Chuck Vs The Sister
by yomomma222
Summary: Sarah's sister, Marty, comes to visit before her wedding to Chuck.  Can Team Bartowski juggle wedding plans, missions, and protecting their spy secret from Marty?  Does Marty need protecting?  Rated M for potential violence, not dirty bits.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. But, if I did, it'd go a little something like this…

Morgan Grimes had been called many things but "Sucker" was not one of them. Okay, maybe it was. But not in the current context. Sure, after he'd been the cause of a team loss in a challenging game of freeze tag against a troop of Girl Scouts (Jeff and Lester would never let him live that one down) or while he was having his head dunked into a toilet bowl by previously mentioned Girl Scouts, but never had he been a sucker when it came to relationships. Primarily because, aside from Anna Woo, he had never been in a long term relationship. That situation was different, Anna Woo broke his heart quickly when she left him for another man. Alex, on the other hand, was running around behind his back and he wasn't going to tolerate such behavior. Well, such alleged behavior, since he still didn't have any proof. He knew she was being secretive but he wasn't sure about what. An affair was the only logical explanation.

Morgan's train of thought was derailed when he pulled his powder blue Vespa up to a red light and peered to his left. He continued to stare, jaw unhinged, at the sight before him. It wasn't so much the fact that there was a side car attached to, what the kids call, a crotch rocket. A very nice, probably very fast, crotch rocket. It was more, the fact, that there was a rather large English Mastiff, wearing a helmet and goggles sitting in said side car, staring back at him. Was it his imagination, or did the dog, and owner just nod their heads at him simultaneously? What was with the huge backpack? Before Morgan had the chance to examine the driver further, the light turned green and the other bike vanished into the horizon.

Meanwhile, back at Casa de Bartowski, Sarah paced nervously while Chuck, Ellie, and Awesome sat casually around the living room. It had been three months since Sarah brought down Volkoff, liberating Mary Bartowski once and for all, and two months, thirty days, and twenty two hours since Chuck proposed. Mary was currently on a new assignment, refusing to take any time off, Casey had recovered from his fall, Ellie gave birth to baby Clara, and Chuck finally told Ellie he was still in the spy business. She was angry at first but understood once Chuck explained that he did it to keep his family, including baby Clara, safe. All in all, everything was…awesome.

"She's going to be here any minute."

"Sarah, will you calm down. Everything will be great. Sister's love me. Take Ellie, for example."

Without looking up from her parenting magazine, Ellie responded, "I'm crazy about him."

"See."

"He's your brother. And, I'm not worried about her liking Chuck," Sarah looked down, embarrassed and fiddled with the buttons on her blouse, "I'm worried about her liking me."

It was Awesome who replied first, with uncertainty, "But…she's your sister."

"And we haven't seen each other in over ten years. Our correspondence has consisted of occasional e-mails and a phone call every two weeks. She has no idea what I've become."

Chuck rushed to reassure Sarah, "Hey, you've become a strong, caring, wonderful woman. The wonderful woman that I'm going to marry in a month. If she's not in love with the new, improved, Sarah Walker -"

"OH! No, call me Sam. She has no idea who Sarah Walker is."

"So, Sam," Ellie made sure she drew the new name out, "you never mentioned you had a sister. What's she like? A super cool spy like you?"

"No! And she doesn't know I'm with the CIA so we need to keep that between us." Sarah took moment before continuing, "Marty is smart, funny, spontaneous, carefree, irresponsible…"

"So, the exact opposite of you then?" Sarah glared at Chuck while he attempted to remove his foot from his mouth, "I mean…the last parts…obviously I didn't mean that you're not smart or funny because you're both of those… Have you done something different with your hair? It looks great."

Sarah ignored Chuck and continued, "Dad always told us to keep a low profile. Instead, she was collecting trophies and first place medals, running for class president, and designing a new zone offense for the football team." Everyone in the room looked confused. "They were pretty terrible and she said she was ok with supporting one looser but refused to support a whole team of them." Chuck, Awesome, and Ellie nodded in understanding. "She's beyond awesome…no offense, Devon."

"A fellow Awesome…that's…awesome."

"She's good and kind and moral. So, yes Chuck, she's the exact opposite of me."

Before Chuck could protest, there was a knock at the door and Sarah rushed over to answer it, straightening her hair and clothes first. Chuck followed her for support. After sharing a reassuring smile, Sarah opened the door.


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: Still don't own it.

"SAM!" A young woman, the others only hoped was Sarah's sister, dropped the large backpack she was holding, rushed forward, wrapped her arms around Sarah and tackled her to the ground. Both women laughed hysterically as everyone else stared in disbelief.

Ellie was the only one able to find the appropriate words to describe the situation, "I don't think I've ever heard Sar..am laugh before. I feel like an angel should be getting it's wings or something."

Try as he might, Chuck couldn't remember a moment where he had seen Sarah so happy. If it meant her being that happy for their lifetime together, he was more than willing to kick Morgan out and give his room to Marty. Speaking of.

"Sorry. It's just been so long since we've seen each other. Got a little carried away." Marty stood and offered her hand to Sarah, pulling her up with little effort. Once they were on their feet, and Chuck was able to get a better look at her face, he felt a familiar feeling coming on. He was beginning to flash. A picture of Marty popped into the intersect part of his brain followed immediately by an image that read, "File Deleted." Luckily, no one else caught the moment for two reasons. One, it was over as soon as it began and two, the attention of the room had moved to the same large dog Morgan observed entering the home.

Chuck momentarily forgot all about the flash, "Oh God, it's a bear." He exclaimed.

Sarah eyed the dog in shock, "What are you doing with a dog?" Not just any dog, it was the largest dog any of them had ever seen.

"I have a dog?" Marty exclaimed, and turned to see what everyone else was looking at. She feigned anger, "You told me you just like dressing up like that!"

As if on cue, the dog dropped to the ground and hide his face under his paws in embarrassment.

Sarah ignored the humor of the moment and continued, "You shouldn't have a dog. You can barely take care of yourself."

"That was the old Marty. The new Marty is mature and responsible."

"What do you feed this beast?" Awesome asked.

"Ice cream and gummy bears mostly. You'd think, gummy bears, he'd eat gummy worms too. But no. He's choosy. Wanna see the sweet trick I taught him? McGruff, sit." The dog just stood and stared at her.

"McGruff? Like the crime dog?" Chuck asked.

"The very same. He hates wearing the trench coat and hat though." She turned back to the dog, "Siiiiiiiit…sit." Marty struggled to push McGruff's bottom down and he eventually gave in then stood right back up. "It's still a work in progress."

Sarah, with her arms crossed in disapproval asked, "And how long have you been working on it?"

"Two years. I think he's on the verge of magnificence though. Once he gets 'Sit' down, 'Stay' is right around the corner." Marty changed the subject, "Going to introduce me?"

"Of course. Everyone, this is my sister Marty. Marty, this is Ellie and her husband Devon. Their baby, Clara is over there asleep in the basinet."

"Then I'll stay over here."

"And this is Chuck." Sarah stared up at him with all the love and admiration she felt, "My Chuck."

"Nice to meet you all. I've heard a lot about you. Especially you, Chuck. For almost four years, you're all she's ever talked about."

"Even during the Bryce, Shaw phases?"

"Who?" Before the conversation could continue, Casey entered behind Marty. Without looking, she pointed over her shoulder, "John Casey?"

A "How did she do that" glance was shared around the room but, before anything could be said about it, "Sorry I'm late everyone…" Morgan entered through the still open front door and stopped speaking once he saw Marty and McGruff. He shut the door behind him.

Marty acknowledged him enthusiastically, "Hey! Little guy, baby blue scooter!" Chuck, Casey, and Awesome snickered while Sarah smiled, knowingly at her sister's behavior.

"It's not baby blue, it's light blue. And it's not a scooter. It's a Vespa."

"Not much dignity in riding either."

A confused Chuck spoke up, "I'm sorry, have you two met?"

"Yeah, at a traffic light about twenty minutes ago. Did it take you that long to get here on your scooter?"

"It was more like five minutes ago and yes. We don't all have fancy sport bikes that go 500 miles an hour."

Sarah, more concerned than ever jumped forward, "You ride a motorcycle? Do you have any idea how dangerous those things are?"

Awesome's excitement was uncontainable, "What kind?"

"One of the last Buells to roll off the assembly line. I only buy American."

Casey grunted in approval.

"Can we go see it?" Was Chuck's 5-year-old like response.

Ellie, the mother of the group, spoke up, "Boys, calm down. You can go play with her toys later. Why don't we all sit and get to know each other first."

Sarah continued to stare at her sister, "We're not done talking about this."

"If by talking about this you mean you're going to lecture for twenty minutes while I pretend to listen then deal."

Chuck turned to Marty, "Let me take your jacket."

"No, that's ok. I'm usually cold."

"Since when?" Sarah asked.

"1999."

Still trying to score points, Chuck cut in, "Do you need help bringing in your bags then?"

"Nope. This is it." Marty held up her large backpack.

Sarah eyed the bag, "That's it? You can't fit much in a backpack."

"Are you kidding? This thing is packed with more stuff than Hermione's beaded bag from Deathly Hallows."

Chuck and Morgan perked up at the mention of something Harry Potter related and Morgan spoke for the two of them, "You like Harry Potter?"

"Who doesn't?"

"Sam." Chuck's response was met with, yet another, glare from his fiance. He continued, speaking to Marty and Morgan, "I'm following a feeling here guys. Best film franchise on three. One…Two…Three."

At the same time, all three shouted, "Star Wars!"

Casey walked up behind Sarah, "Great. They're multiplying."

Everyone one moved toward the dining room table, including McGruff. Without a word, Marty held her hand up and he froze in his tracks. She pointed to the ground and he laid down without hesitation. Chuck looked around and wondered if he was the only one who caught the moment.


	3. Chapter 3

DISCLAIMER: Takin' it back to '92. I own it…Siiiiiiiiike! For those of you unfamiliar with words and phrases of the '90's, "Sike" is a word that follows a statement to tell others you're joking.

Marty had only been visiting for an hour before Team Bartowski was called into Castle for a meeting with General Beckman. It was an awkward moment due to the fact that all four cell phones rang at the same time. Casey was the first to make his departure.

"I just remembered, I have muffins in the oven. Pleasure meeting you. Excuse me." He left quickly.

Awesome explained, "He takes his baked goods very seriously."

Next were Chuck and Morgan, "Emergency call for the Nerd Herd. They need all of us at the Buy More. Craziest thing. One of those new fangled touch pad things downloaded a self destruct app and just blew up, taking the rest of the computer inventory with it. Be back later." Chuck grabbed Morgan and pulled him out the door.

The remaining guests sat uncomfortably until Sarah made her excuse, "I just remembered, there are a few things I need to pick up at the store."

"It's that urgent?" Marty asked.

"Yes, dinner will be a disaster otherwise."

"I can go with you."

Ellie covered for her future sister-in-law, "Actually, it'd be great if you stayed here with us. We'd love to hear all the embarrassing stories you can remember about Sam."

"Oh. Well, that could take a while. Did she ever mention her dread lock, gangsta rap phase?"

Sarah shot Ellie a look of gratitude before heading out the door.

Chuck and Morgan arrived at Castle shortly after Casey, "A muffin emergency? Really?"

"What did you idiots come up with?"

"Computer explosion."

"Figures."

As soon as Sarah entered, General Beckman appeared on the conference screen and everyone took their seats.

"I hope I didn't drag all of you away from anything too important."

"Actually General," Chuck began, "we were just -"

"I wasn't asking. I had you all called in to give you a heads up of sorts. Several agents in the area have been found dead, with no leads as to whom is responsible. You're the best team I have and I don't want any of you making the same careless mistakes. I want you all on high alert."

"Yes, General." It was Casey who spoke for the group.

"General," Sarah looked suspicious, "Is there anything you're not telling us? We can be better prepared if we know everything you know."

General Beckman looked around her office, nervous, before answering, "It goes higher than me. That's all I can say." And, that quickly, Beckman terminated the conversation.

"Higher than Beckman. Is that even possible?" Chuck asked.

Casey, wearing his creepy face responded, "There are agencies, full of trained killers, that the President of these United States doesn't even know about."

"How do you know about them then?" Morgan backed away at Casey's glare and growl.

Sarah, always quick to defend Chuck and Morgan, stepped in, "Those are just rumors, Casey. The existence of such a group is an old wives tale told by veteran agents to new

recruits. It improves morale and work productivity."

"How's that?" Chuck asked.

"Imagine how hard someone would work if they were told there's an extra special, super secret, agency that keeps an eye on them for recruiting purposes. Those who go above and beyond are asked to join this team. Right out of training, you get improved efficiency and confidence in the field because everyone wants to be a part of this elite squad."

"And that's exactly what they're called, 'The Elite'." Casey had a dreamy look in his eyes and smiled in fondness for the thought.

Chuck smacked Casey on the back, breaking him from his trance, "And they never invited you, big guy?"

"It was probably an oversight. What killing squad would pass up Casey?" Morgan put a comforting arm around Casey's shoulders that was promptly removed when met with another growl.

"We should get back, Marty is probably to the really awkward stories from the high school years."

Morgan laughed, "You awkward? What, did you have a bad crimping iron day? Did your eye liner not match your prom dress? Sarah, awkward. I'll believe that when I see it."

Once Morgan finished his rant, Casey stood at the computer and pressed a button. All of a sudden, Sarah's high school yearbook picture appeared on every screen in Castle.

"Whoa!" A very startled Morgan exclaimed. He kept looking, rapidly from the picture to a very embarrassed Sarah. He continued to compare Sarah, then and now, while Chuck managed to get past Casey and take the image down.

Morgan finally regained his ability to speak, "It's like in 'Batman Returns' when Michelle Pfiefer played Selina Kyle and she goes from nerdy secretary to sex kitten after those cats licked all over her." He looked up, in awe, "Sarah, you're Catwoman."

"Let's go moron." A disgruntled Casey put his hand on Morgan's shoulder, who was still staring at Sarah with a new found appreciation, and pushed him toward the stairs to leave.

Sarah went to follow but Chuck grabbed her wrist, pulling her back to him. She misunderstood his actions and gave him a flirty look, "Okay, but we have to be quick." She started kissing his neck, pushing him back to the conference table, and unbuttoning his shirt. For a moment, Chuck couldn't remember what his original intention was, as his eyes rolled back into his head. He shook free of his haze and gently pushed Sarah back.

"I need to talk to you about your sister."

"Nine most effective words to kill the mood."

Chuck stopped and mentally recited his words, counting them on his fingers. Sarah stopped him, taking his hand in hers.

"Is it the dog? I can tell her he has to stay somewhere else."

"No, the dog is fine. I mean, aside from possibly being a destroyer of small villages." He paused briefly before he continued, "I don't know how to say this…when I saw her, I flashed."

"What?" Sarah glanced behind her to make sure Casey and Morgan we really gone and lowered her voice, "What did you see?"

"Just her picture and a screen that said File Deleted."

Sarah looked confused but thought for a few seconds and offered the only explanation she could, "Well, when I agreed to work for the CIA, I told them I'd only do it if Marty was able to go free. You were probably just seeing something that would have linked her to me but, since I became an agent, it was deleted."

"Huh. I didn't think about that. You're probably right."

"Of course I am." She kissed his cheek and attempted to pull him with her but Chuck pulled her back.

"One more thing. Did you notice how well McGruff is trained?"

Sarah laughed, "Very funny, Chuck." And with that, she succeeded in pulling him up the staircase and out the door.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own anything having to do with Chuck aside from Seasons 1-3 on DVD.

McGruff laid beside the entrance of the Bartowski home while laughter echoed off the walls. Without warning, he jumped up and stared at the door. Marty, the only one noticing his behavior, continued to laugh with Ellie and Awesome as she discreetly reached for her bag. Seconds later, Chuck and Morgan walked in and McGruff returned to his position on the floor. Whatever she was reaching for was forgotten. Awesome and Ellie's laughter died down and another story began as Morgan and Chuck sat, "Up until she was fifteen, she couldn't wink, but she didn't realize it. So she'd go around, blinking both eyes at boys in the neighborhood." To better illustrate her point, Marty began blinking in an over exaggerated manner.

Everyone laughed at the story and McGruff stood, staring at the door again. This time, Chuck noticed as Marty's attention turned to the door and saw her hand extend, ever so slightly, toward her bag. Sarah walked in, a grocery bag in her left hand and Marty's actions ceased. What was she reaching for? His thoughts were interrupted by Ellie and Awesome as they blatantly showed their excitement for Sarah's arrival.

"SAMBONI!" They both exclaimed.

Sarah's shoulders slumped and she wondered how many more embarrassing moments the day would hold, "You told them the ice skating story?"

"The better question is why you would think I wouldn't tell them the ice skating story."

McGruff stepped forward, gently took the bag from Sarah with his mouth and carried it into the kitchen, placing it on the counter. Everyone looked to Marty for an explanation but she quickly changed the subject, "Did Sam ever tell you she had a thing for Skreetch on 'Saved By The Bell'?"

Morgan laughed, putting his hand on Chuck's shoulder, "That explains SO much."

"A maid of honor can be demoted to bridesmaid and replaced." Sarah warned.

Ellie perked up, "Replaced by a soon to be sister in law?"

"You would be next in line."

Ellie turned to Marty, daring her to continue in a playful way, "What were you saying earlier? About Sam and an under bite. Something about resembling a bulldog?"

Marty feigned innocence, "What? I said nothing of the sort and how dare you insult my beautiful sister by insinuating she, at any point, looked like a dog. You have some nerve lady."

Chuck showed his disappointment, "No more stories?"

"You shouldn't have gone in to work." Marty continued, suspiciously, "You guys were back pretty quickly for fixing a whole inventory of computers."

Chuck stammered, trying to lie, "False alarm."

Morgan attempted to carry the lie out for him, "We told the staff not to disturb us today so they came up with the only thing they knew would get us in the store."

"So, what was the real reason?"

"Real reason for what?"

"Going in to work."

"Oh!" Morgan looked off, into the distance, trying to grasp an excuse, "Price…check."

Chuck just smiled and nodded as Sarah interrupted, saving Morgan from further interrogation, "Marty, why don't you help me in the kitchen?" Marty got up to follow as Ellie and Awesome laughed.

Ellie spoke through her laughter, "Try not to burn the house down."

Sarah turned to her sister, surprised, "Marty! It was one time!"

"One time is really all it takes to get a story about burning a house down."

Sarah climbed into bed as Chuck entered the room, "Well, I thought they'd never leave." He pushed the door closed behind him and gave Sarah his best bedroom eyes then attempted a provocative crawl across the mattress. She seemed distracted but smiled and welcomed his advances. Once he reached her, he grabbed her hand and kissed each of her fingers, up her arm, to her neck, her lips, then back to her neck.

He sensed Sarah's distraction and pulled back, "This kind of requires both of us. I mean, you joining in isn't exactly mandatory, but your participation is what separates me from…well, me two years ago."

"You and my sister have a lot in common."

Chuck mentally counted the words, "Nine most effective words to kill a mood…or enhance it, if you're trying to tell me something." His wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Sarah smiled slightly and continued, "You like the same TV shows, movies, video games. You do the same bad dance moves."

Chuck wrinkled his forehead in confusion, "Bad?"

"Running man, sprinkler, lawn mower. You even started doing the Kid-n-Play at the exact moment together."

Not getting her point, he responded defensively, "Those moves aren't bad, they're classics."

Sarah looked down, insecurity filling her to the core, "We're so different. Have you ever thought you might be happier with someone more like you?"

Chuck panicked, "Why? Would you be happier with someone like you?"

"Of course not. Even if you decided you didn't want to be with me any more, I'd rather spend my life alone than be with anyone else. Being loved by you has kind of ruined any chance I'd have at happiness without you."

Chuck rested his hand on Sarah's cheek and she leaned into his touch, "And if I wanted to marry someone exactly like me then I would have accepted Morgan's proposal years ago."

They shared a brief smile as Chuck moved in and kissed her softly. She accepted without distraction, and deepening the kiss. As they leaned back onto the bed, a loud pop came from outside, causing them to jump apart. Sarah grabbed her gun from under her pillow and followed Chuck to the bedroom window. A figure dressed in black, a hood covering their head, came running into the courtyard, passing their window. Without waiting for a flash, Chuck jumped out and grabbed the intruder from behind. He was smacked in the face by the back of the person's head, elbowed in the ribs, and tossed over their shoulder like a rag doll. He flashed and tried to kick his body up, but as soon as his upper body left the ground, it was immediately forced back down. Once his eyes were able to focus again, he looked up and saw McGruff standing on top of him, staring down, and growling.

"Chuck?" Marty asked, removing her hood.

Chuck merely grunted, the dog still on top of him. After putting her gun away, Sarah flew out of the window, "Marty? What the hell are you doing out here this late?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Well, from the looks of you, if I were a cop I'd say something illegal."

Marty scoffed, "Right. You a cop." She spoke through her laughter, "We went for a quick jog."

Chuck groaned again, the weight of McGruff becoming too much to bear, "Help."

Marty snapped her fingers and pointed to the ground beside her. He pushed off of Chuck's chest, eliciting another grunt and trotted away to stand with Marty.

"At midnight?" Sarah questioned.

"Is it midnight?" Marty pretended to not know the time, she looked at her non-existent watch, "It is. We should get in to bed."

"What was that sound we heard?" Chuck asked, rubbing his chest where McGruff's paws had been.

"Popping sound?"

Sarah and Chuck nodded.

"Kind of like a gun shot?" Marty continued to describe the sound and Sarah nodded again, this time worried.

"Car back firing. Scared the heck out of us."

Ever the protective sister, Sarah spoke up, "It wouldn't have been as scary if the sun was up."

"No, a potential shooting is always going to be the same amount of scary. The position of the sun has nothing to do with the speed or direction of a bullet."

"Please don't make jokes about this."

Marty's tone changed as she sensed Sarah's worry, "You're right. I'm sorry. No more late night jogs."

"Thank you."

"Can we all go to bed now?"

"Yes."

The pair started to return to the house, McGruff following, forgetting about Chuck who wasn't as convinced as Sarah, "Wait." The women turned back to him, "How did you do that? Before, when you threw me down?"

"I took a self defense class at the Y a few years ago. You're lucky you didn't get the pepper spray and rape whistle in your ear." Marty pulled a can of pepper spray and a bright pink whistle out of her pocket.

"Between these and McGruff, I'm safer than a nun at a sex convention."

Chuck furrowed his brow at her comment, following behind the women, back into the house.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Don't own it but would really like to.

Shout Out to jinxed97. Thanks for the reviews.

This one is pretty much filler with a twist at the end.

It had been several days since Marty had arrived. She and Sarah were running rampant, trying to put a wedding together in a month. Color swatches, sample flower arrangements, and large pictures of potential locations littered the living room. Marty laid on the couch, covered in the color swatches, exhausted, as McGruff watched Sarah pace nervously in front of the location pictures, speaking frantically, "We can't have a beach wedding because Ellie and Awesome did. We can't get married where we met because it was the Buy More. We can't do a church because it's not like either one of us is particularly religious and I would feel hypocritical. We can't go where we went on our first date because that was the beach and, again, takes us back to our first problem. I'm kind of screwed for a location here."

Sarah suddenly regretted waiting for her sister's arrival before she began any of the wedding preparations and found herself wishing for those three months back. The emergence of another dead agent didn't make matters any easier and, to top it all off, the team had two missions in three days, cutting into precious planning time.

"Sam, it's not that serious." Sarah glared at her sister, "I mean, you only get married once or twice so it's kind of serious but it's not like the location is the most important thing." Marty stood in front of Sarah, stopping her pacing and held her hands, "What matters most to you?"

Sarah's edge softened and she let a small smile appear, "Chuck waiting for me at the end of the aisle."

Marty continued, also smiling, she cleared her throat to signal that Sarah was missing something, "And?"

Sarah's smile brightened, "You being there."

"Well, we're two for two because nothing is going to stop either one of us from being there. What else?"

Sarah smiled shyly and looked down, feeling superficial about the final detail, "A pretty dress."

"Anything else?"

"Not really."

"Then let's get you a pretty dress to complete the 'What it Takes to Make Sam Happy' trifecta and I'll handle the rest."

Sarah tried to protest but was stopped, "You've been working crazy hours and it's keeping us from getting anything done. All you'll have to do is show up where I tell you to."

"And find a dress."

Again, McGruff's early alert system kicked in and he stood, starting at the door. Before Marty could reach for her bag, Sarah brought up his behaviour, "Is your dog psychic? Because every time someone gets ready to come through that door, he jumps up and stares at it."

Marty laughed, "No, he always thinks it's food. We order a lot of take out so he's gotten really good at listening for the delivery guy."

"Ah." There was a knock at the door and Sarah went to answer it as Marty was finally able to reach for her back pack. When she opened the door, Sarah was met with a delivery man, holding a rectangular box, not more than a few inches deep and two feet long. Marty and McGruff both relaxed after seeing who was at the door.

"Delivery for Sam Bartowski."

Sarah looked confused at the use of her real name in combination with her soon to be last name, "That's me."

Sarah signed for the package and carried it to the coffee table, sitting it down.

Marty smiled, already knowing what the box contained, "I wasn't sure what last name you were using now. So I went with what I knew."

Sarah was surprised, "This is from you?"

"Early wedding present."

She smiled at Marty and, once the package was open, her face took on a look of shock and her eyes started to fill with unshed tears, "Mom's wedding dress." She had trouble finding words and continued to look at the dress in shock, "I thought we lost it with everything else when dad went to jail."

"I snuck back in that night and took a few things. Figured you might want it someday."

Sarah, still in awe, stood and pulled the dress up by the straps to reveal a simple cream colored sheath dress with thin shoulder straps that were covered in metallic beads and small crystals, "I can't believe you did this."

"So, now you have nothing left to worry about. Unless, of course, you wanted to pick your own dress."

"No! This is…Marty, this is perfect." Was Sarah's still speechless reply. Her search for words was cut short by her cell phone ringing.

"Let me guess. You have to go back to work?"

"I will be back as soon as I can." Sarah put the dress back in the box a hugged her sister, "Thank you so much for doing this. When I get back, we'll go look at more flowers."

"Nope. I already told you. Just show up where and when I tell you to."

Sarah grabbed her purse and opened the door to reveal a moping Morgan, standing outside. He walked past her and glumly sat on the couch, staring straight ahead.

"Morgan, I just got called into work. Can you entertain Marty? Maybe take her to the beach or something?"

Morgan just waved his hand and Sarah took it as a yes. She left, shutting the door behind her. Marty walked over and sat next to Morgan. Without looking at her, still in a daze of depression, he asked, "Wanna go to the beach?"

"No. I'm not really a beach kind of girl." She waited then continued, genuinely concerned, "What's wrong lil' guy?"

"Oh nothing. Just my life has ended."

"Well that's never fun. Can I ask how it's ended?"

"Alex, my girlfriend, the possible love of my life…" Before Morgan could get any more words out, he began an over exaggerated sob complete with tears and snot. Marty awkwardly patted him on the back, not knowing what else to do while McGruff grabbed a nearby box of tissues in his mouth and placed them on Morgan's leg then rested his head on his lap and whined. He grabbed a few tissues and attempted to speak through his sobs, "Iinkayexiseayinonmee."

"One more time. Use your words."

Morgan controlled his sobs and spoke while nearly hyperventilating. "I…think…Alex…is…" the last part came out in a strangled sob as he couldn't hold it together anymore, "eeeeatingonmeeeee."

"I want to help you. Last time. Annunciate. Alex is…?"

"Ch-ch-ch..."

Marty finished for him, "Cheating on you?"

Morgan's sobs got louder and more uncontrollable as he laid his head on Marty's lap and curled up in a ball on the couch.

"Then we should go to her house and break her stuff. That's how I deal with cheaters."

Morgan's reply was muffled by his being face down on Marty's lap, "It hasn't been confirmed yet."

"Ok. Then we should follow her and find out for sure."

Morgan sat up quickly, wiping the tears from his eyes, "Stalk her?"

"No, Morgan. Stalking is for creeps and weirdos. I haven't stalked someone since 2003. I said follow her. See where she goes, who she goes there with, and if they end up naked together."

Morgan looked at her, hopeful, and wiped his nose on the back of his hand, "We?"

"Why not. Sam's been busy with work so I've had a lot of free time. I tell you what, if I help you with this, you help me with planning the wedding. Deal?"

"Deal." He offered his snot covered hand and Marty just shook her head, refusing to touch the hand.

Several hours later, Chuck returned home from the Buy More. Morgan sat on the couch, still depressed, and surrounded by used tissues. McGruff was sitting in front of him with the tissue box in his mouth as Morgan occasionally reached out and took one.

"Hey buddy. What's wrong?"

Moran held up his hand to stop Chuck from coming any closer, "I'm fine." He started to get choked up again.

"Oooook. Have you seen Sarah?"

While crying into a tissue Morgan simply pointed toward the bedroom hallway.

"Thanks buddy."

Chuck's gratitude was met with another loud sob as Morgan leaned forward and hugged McGruff.

As he made his way to the bedroom, Chuck heard the water running and Sarah singing "Maniac". It was the song she sang every time she showered by herself. She had no idea everyone in the house could hear her and Chuck was never going to tell her because it would embarrass her and she'd stop. He loosened his tie and started to unbutton his shirt as he walked into the steam filled bathroom, quietly shutting the door behind him.

"She's a maniac, maniac on the floor. And she's dancing like she never danced before."

She sounded a little different today and Chuck hoped she wasn't getting worn down between work and wedding plans. He reached the shower door and pulled it open while speaking, "Hey there pretty la-AH!"

As soon as he laid eyes on the chest in front of him, he knew it wasn't Sarah's. Two things happened simultaneously. Marty screamed, turning around and covering what she could and, for the second time since her arrival, Chuck flashed.


	6. Chapter 6

"Author's" note: You're all smart people, I'm sure you know where things are headed.

"Oh,God. Oh, God. Oh, God." Chuck walked into his bedroom, rubbing his eyes. Sarah, who had been laying on the bed when he walked in, dropped the file she was reading and rushed to his side, concerned.

"Chuck? Are you ok?"

"I flashed on your sister." He replied, panicked.

"Yeah, three days ago. I remember." She cradled his face in her hands, trying to look into his eyes but he wouldn't meet her gaze, "Are you feeling ok?

"No, Sarah. I just flashed on your sister again."

Sarah was confused, "But you've never flashed on something more than once."

Chuck still refused to make eye contact, "I might have seen something different this time."

"Something like what?"

Looking at the floor, Chuck replied in a soft mumble, "Her body."

"Excuse me?"

"I might have walked in on Marty while she was in the shower. But that's not what's important-"

Sarah, more bothered by Chuck seeing her sister naked than she was about the flash, continued, "How much did you see?"

His blush deepened, "Not much…just, most of the front…then, maybe all of the back when she turned to cover herself. Can I just say your sister's abs are ridiculous?"

"No. You can't."

"Then I won't." He waited for Sarah to say something and when she didn't he continued, "It's not like I went looking for the chance to see Marty naked. I thought it was you in there."

"So you just assumed I'm the only woman in the house showering?"

"No! She was singing your shower song!"

Sarah shied back like she had been slapped in the face, "My what?"

"You know," He began singing, "She's a maniac, maniac on the floor." To bring his point home, Chuck started shuffling his feet and pumping his arms, "And she's dancing like she's never danced before." He stopped for two reasons. One, he felt ridiculous and two, Sarah's reaction scared him.

"You heard me?" She responded, mortified on top of being pissed.

"You're missing the point. I flashed on your sister."

"You're changing the subject!""Yes I am and you can yell at me about this later but you have to listen to me!"

Sarah stopped and waited, hands on her hips. Chuck was shocked she was actually giving him the chance to explain, "Really?" He shook his surprise away, "Sorry, ok. Back in 1999, there was an interrogation test performed on a CIA recruit. As you know, everyone fails the interrogation test."

"Yeah, the whole point is to see how much you can take before you crack. Determines whether you get an office job or go out in the field."

"Right, well there's one agent who never talked."

Sarah didn't believe him, "During a torture test? Chuck, that's impossible. Everybody talks."

"Everybody but one person." Sarah still didn't want to believe him so he carried on with his story, "Normally, during the test, the interrogator isn't allowed to do anything that would permanently mark the subject because of the necessity to use the body for…" Chuck seemed uncomfortable and chose his words carefully,"…seduction purposes on a mission. But, the guy running things, Agent Marshall Lawson, took it personally that, whoever this was, they weren't giving in. So, he ordered everyone else out of the room and shut down all recording equipment. That way, no one would know the lengths he was willing to go to break her."

"Her?"

"Yes. An analyst noticed the case was still open after months-"

Sarah was shocked, "Months? That's impossible."

Chuck, sidetracked by his constant '80's nostalgia replied in a bad Spanish accent, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." He ended with what he hoped was a charming smile.

Sarah crossed her arms, "Not the time."

Chuck's smile dropped, "Of course not. Where was I?"

"Months of torture."

"Right. So, the analyst sent someone to investigate and when they found her, there were massive amounts of damage. Like, lucky to still be alive damage. The subject's identity was concealed but the injuries were documented. Sarah, I flashed on Marty's body because she is covered in scars, head to toe, that match the injuries of this mystery agent."

Sarah's anger softened to worry for Marty. Tears were forming in her eyes and she shook her head, "No. The CIA gives me monthly updates on her. She spent all of that year touring Europe and every year since then moving around, working odd jobs."

"Odd jobs? Like selling hotdogs and frozen yogurt?"

Sarah had an expression of sudden realization just before she stormed out of the room, in search of Marty. It wasn't a particularly long search since she was in the living room, sitting on the couch with a still depressed Morgan. Marty stood, in hopes of calming her sister down but she didn't even get the chance to open her mouth before Sarah grabbed the sleeve of her shirt and pushed it up just as Chuck entered the room. What she saw made her stomach drop and she heard a gasp. She wasn't sure if it came from her or one of the other people in the room. A thick scar stretched from just above Marty's wrist to her elbow. Sarah flipped her arm over and the underside of it was covered in smaller scars. She repeated the process on her other arm to the same result.

"Explain." It wasn't so much a request as it was a demand.

"I will but you have to promise to not be mad….er than you already are."

Sarah knew she couldn't straight out ask Marty about a secret interrogation test performed by the same people who employ her, because, if Chuck was wrong, it would blow their own cover. She waited for the explanation. Sarah was a trained spy. She knew a lie when she heard one…right?

"Look, I knew it would upset you so I was trying to stay covered up. Why do you think I didn't want to go to the beach?"

"That's not an explanation."

"No, it's not. Do you want to sit down first?"

"Depends. Is the news going to shock me?"

Chuck watched the interaction like a tennis match, going back and forth between the women.

"I don't know. I guess it all depends on how well you deal with surprising news."

"I think I handle it just fine."

"You're sure?"

"Positive."

"So, you're not going to sit?"

Chuck had enough of the banter, "JUST TELL US HOW YOU GOT THE DAMN

SCARS!"

Marty and Sarah both looked at Chuck, offended, "You don't have to be so rude." If anyone was going to yell at Marty, Sarah felt it should be her.

"Yeah. What a dick." Hoping to change the subject, Marty asked, "You sure you want to marry this guy?"

"Scars." Was Sarah's simple reply.

"It's no big deal really." Marty hesitated, holding on to one last hope that Sarah wouldn't make her talk before she finally gave in, "I used to race bikes."

Morgan perked up for the first time since everyone else entered the location of his pity party, "Like Lance Armstrong?"

The three other people in the room stared at Morgan, wondering if he was serious, then turned their attention back to the conversation they were having.

"Turns out, I wasn't as good at it as I thought I was going to be and ended up wrecking a few times."

"A few?" Chuck asked.

"A lot. I was hoping I'd be able to come and go with out any of you noticing."

"What were you going to do about bridesmaid dresses?"

"I was thinking something floor length with those classy white gloves that go up to the armpit. I could have pulled it off too it weren't for Peep Show McGee and his prying eyes." She turned to Chuck, "Why were you trying to see me naked, anyway?"

"You saw Marty naked?" Morgan asked behind Sarah and Marty's back. He then held his thumb up, switching it down and back up, non-verbally asking if it was a good show or not.

Chuck ignored him and, fed up with having to defend his actions, he was more than slightly flustered when he replied, "I wasn't…I didn't…You sing her shower song!"

"I'm sorry." Sarah was surprised. She wasn't used to Marty apologizing. Especially for something that she knew wasn't her fault, "I wasn't aware that Sam held the shower rights to that song. How bout I just cut her a royalty check every week and you knock from now on." That's more like it.

"It was the song our mom sang to us when we took baths." It was no big secret and Sarah would have told Chuck sooner if she knew he could hear her every time she sang it.

Chuck, still not as convinced as Sarah, decided to get all of his questions out there, "What's with the bag?"

"What's that got to do with anything we're talking about right now?" Marty wasn't defensive, just very confused.

"Just humor me, ok?"

Marty shrugged, picked up her bag and handed it to Chuck. He dumped it out on the couch.

"Chuck. This isn't necessary." Sarah wasn't sure what he was looking for.

With the entire contents of the bag laying in front of everyone, Chuck wasn't sure what he was looking for either. He was hoping for another flash, anything to prove Marty was hiding something, but it's hard to flash on women's undergarments and old family pictures. Marty picked up a picture of her with Sarah from their childhood.

"It's everything that's important to me." She handed Sarah the picture, "I move around a lot so it's easier to keep it simple."

"Why do you always keep it so close?" Chuck asked as Morgan picked up a pair of underwear and Sarah snatched them back from him.

"Habit. After so many years of living with dad, I'm always expecting the next knock at the door to be someone we need to run from causing me to grab everything I can't live without…" she signaled to the pile of items on the couch, "…and go. I guess Sam got house broken before I did."

"You just have an explanation for everything, don't you?"

"Everything except the necessity of pubic hair."

"I think we've had enough questions for one day." Sarah intervened, knowing she should be more suspicious and trust Chuck's flash, but she was satisfied with Marty's explanations. It very well could have been a coincidence that her scars matched the tortured agent. Maybe Chuck just flashed on a single scar that was in the same spot on both women because, what are the odds of two different people having the same exact scars everywhere? Believing Chuck's flash meant the CIA lied to her about letting Marty go and about where she had been for the past ten years. If she couldn't believe the CIA then what could she believe? Chuck. She could always trust Chuck. He'd never lie to her. Then again, neither would Marty. Growing up, she was always such a terrible liar. Sarah knew all of her tells and didn't see a single one during Chuck's inquisition. It's not like she was choosing to not believe the man she loved more than life itself. She was choosing to not believe the intersect. But Chuck is the intersect… but the intersect is not Chuck. Did that even make sense? If she pushed the issue Marty might leave and Sarah had spent ten years without seeing her sister. She didn't want to go another ten just because of some weird coincidence. That's what it was…wasn't it? Sarah had never been more confused in her entire life.

To make matters worse, the team would find out later that day that, across town, the body of another dead agent was found.


	7. Chapter 7

It took all of twenty minutes for Sarah to realize she wasn't being honest with herself about Marty. So, the next day, she told her sister that she and Chuck had planned a romantic weekend away together before they found out she was coming to visit. The trip was non-refundable and they had been looking forward to a weekend alone before the wedding. In the week before they were set to leave, Sarah had been watching Marty closer than she had in the first few days and was noticing things she overlooked before. When they would go for daily jogs, Marty never got winded and Sarah found it difficult to keep up with her. Awesome even had trouble the few times he went with them. When they went out, she would discretely look over her shoulder, at least once every minute, and when they went to restaurants, she never sat with her back to the door. She even noticed that she protectively put herself in front of Sarah whenever they heard an unexpected noise or passed a person of questionable character.

The day came to leave and Sarah and Chuck walked out of their room carrying their luggage, "We'll be back Sunday night. Help yourself to anything in the fridge and try to keep Morgan out of trouble."

Marty was sitting on the couch, reading a book that she didn't look up from, "Have fun."

Morgan was sitting next to her, in the same position and wearing the same outfit he had been wearing on the day of the flash heard round the house. He simply lifted his hand and waved.

Sarah kissed the top of Marty's head, Chuck ruffled Morgan's hair, and they walked out.

Once they were alone, Marty turned to Morgan, "So, now seems as good a time as any for that mission we talked about."

Morgan panicked and looked at her, "Mission?"

"Yeah, following Alex. Something tells me, once Sarah gets back, I won't have the chance to help you with it."

Morgan's mood lightened, "Yes, absolutely. Let's do that." He got up and headed for the door.

"You're going to have to shower first. And maybe burn the clothes you're wearing."

"Right. I'll be right back."

When Chuck and Sarah reached her car, he loaded the luggage for them, "So, we're not going to San Diego, are we?"

"No, we're going to Fort Leavenworth."

"Kansas?" he was confused momentarily.

"It's where Agent Lawson is being held." Sarah didn't look at Chuck.

"I thought you believed Marty's story about crashing her motorcycle."

"I thought I did too. But that was the part of me that was holding on to the hope that she's still my little sister who would never lie to me. Truth of the matter is, as much as I've changed over the years, it's unrealistic to think she hasn't." She took a step toward Chuck, and fiddled with the buttons on the front of his shirt then looked into his eyes, "I also realized that trusting her meant not trusting you. And since you're the most important person in my life, that's not the best building block for a strong marriage."

Chuck smiled, gently pushed Sarah's hair back and kissed her briefly before they got into her car and drove away.

_Twenty minutes later, Marty and Morgan were heading out of the house with McGruff. He jogged ahead of them and climbed into his side car on the motorcycle. When they caught up, Marty put his helmet and goggles on for him, then sat on the bike. Morgan stared at the motorcycle, confused, "Where am I supposed to sit?"

Marty simply looked behind her, at the small area on the back of the bike.

"No. There's no way. I'll take my Vespa."

"Alright. If you think you can keep up with us, go right ahead."

Morgan thought briefly then had a short spaz attack where he started swinging and kicking at the air in frustration.

"Fine." Morgan climbed on, taking Marty's helmet that she was holding out for him. He put it on and wrapped his arms around her middle, with his face pressed against her back. She looked back at him with a 'Why are you touching me?' expression. Morgan let go and replied, afraid, "I'll just put them on your shoulders then". The bike took off and Morgan's head jerked back.

They had been sitting outside of Alex's house for an hour and Morgan was bored out of his mind. He was just about to tell Marty to forget about the whole thing and take him to the arcade when Alex came out and got into her car, pulling out of the driveway and heading down the street.

With the distance that they kept, Morgan found it difficult to keep track of Alex's car but Marty never lost sight of her. He found himself wondering if she hadn't done this before, on a regular basis. Maybe she dated a lot of untrustworthy guys. He'd have to remember to ask her about it later.

They finally pulled up to a strip mall and Alex got out of the car, heading to the entrance of a jewelry store. Morgan was surprised to see another man, a dashingly good looking man, if you like that kind of thing, waiting at the entrance for her. They hugged and he held the door open for her. Morgan wanted to vomit. It was one thing when he just suspected something was going on. It was a completely different matter seeing the proof with his own eyes.

"I've seen enough. We can go home now."

"Morgan, you haven't seen anything. She's just going jewelry shopping with a super hot guy. That doesn't mean anything." McGruff whined in response, "No one asked you. Just give it a little longer. I'm sure it's nothing."

Morgan gave it more time and what he saw was them going to lunch, laughing the whole time, extreme amounts of contact, and them both going back to her house, where they stayed for the rest of the night.

They got back home, at two in the morning, when they had given up waiting for him to leave. Morgan returned to his spot on the couch, followed by McGruff who grabbed the box of tissues for him and resumed his position, seated in front of him. Marty grabbed a bottle of whatever liquor she could find, two glasses, and the controllers for the Xbox 360. It was going to be a long night of tears, snot, and Call Of Duty.

The next morning, Sarah and Chuck arrived at the prison. After showing the proper identification to see Lawson, he was brought out and seated across a table from them. He wasn't sure who they were or what they wanted so he waited for them to make the first move.

It was Sarah who spoke first, "Word has it, you're the guy to go to if one was having trouble getting information."

Lawson smiled smugly, "What kind of information, exactly?"

"The kind that could be a matter of national security. We have a rogue agent who has been selling secrets to the highest bidders. We've been trying to get her to talk for weeks but she's pretty tight lipped. We want to find out what she's been selling."

"I see. And why would you think I could help you?"

Chuck answered, "Because we're familiar with your reputation and this agent mentioned you specifically."

Lawson was intrigued, "You said it was a female agent?"

"We did." Sarah responded, "And all she keeps saying, while we… " Sarah acted like she was trying to find a politically correct way to say torture, "…put forth our best effort was, 'Is that all you've got? Lawson could teach you a thing or two. Bring Lawson in here. Lawson knows how to make me scream. Lawson, Lawson, Lawson.' So, here we are, asking Lawson, what to do."

"If you're asking about who I think you're asking about then I'll tell you, do what you want to her, she'll never say a word."

Chuck started to speak, "But, she said-"

"Oh, don't get me wrong. Like she said, I had her screaming. But she never caved. I did everything I was trained to do and more. I even had the bitch flat lined a few times and, when I managed to resuscitate her, she just kept on grinning at me. Like she was daring me to let her stay dead."

Sarah's jaw clenched and she dug her nails into Chuck's thigh under the table. He tried not to let his wince show.

Chuck spoke for her, "We just want to confirm, we're talking about the same person here." Chuck pulled out a picture of Marty and placed it in front of Lawson. He smiled then leaned back casually in his chair.

"It's classified. I can neither confirm nor deny the identity of the agent. In fact, the two of you could put your clearance levels together and you still wouldn't have the level required to know anything about what happened in that room or who it happened to."

Sarah, fighting the urge to jump over the table and kill him, found words through her anger, "You're seriously going to protect the government that locked you up for doing your job? As far as I'm concerned, you deserve a medal. All agents should be pushed to the level that you pushed her. Otherwise, we're putting agents in the field who aren't prepared." She was trying to build his ego even more.

"Let me see that picture again." It worked.

Chuck held it up and Lawson smiled.

Sunday had finally come and Marty had just finished cleaning up from her weekend with Morgan. Empty bottles of beer, pizza boxes, tissues, and bags of chips had been thrown around the living room. They spent all 48 hours sitting on the couch, eating junk food, drinking heavily, and playing video games. Morgan's cell phone rang constantly, always Alex, but he refused to answer even though Marty insisted he should. McGruff even picked up his phone while it was ringing and placed it on his lap. He had finally agreed to get up and shower for the second time in a week while Marty began cooking dinner for Sarah and Chuck's return.

McGruff stood and looked at the door but Marty already knew who it was. The door opened and Sarah and Chuck walked in. Well, Chuck walked, Sarah rushed in and did something she never thought she'd do. She went straight to Marty in the kitchen, balled up her fist, and took a swing at her sister.


	8. Chapter 8

Kind of hard to describe, hope you can follow it. If not, fill in your favorite fight scene here…

Marty's reaction was instant and effortless. She turned sideways and leaned slightly to the left, watching Sarah's right fist as it slide past her face. With out hesitation, Marty grabbed the wrist, and twisted Sarah's arm, causing her to bend over, almost falling face first into the hot frying pan sitting on the stove. The only thing stopping her was the fact that Marty let go of her wrist, grabbed Sarah's shoulders, and pulled her upright.

Chuck winced, knowing Sarah was almost hurt badly, "Well, that almost got out of hand quickly."

Both women stood, facing the stove, Marty staring at the back of Sarah's head and Sarah staring straight ahead.

"You didn't go to San Diego."

"You didn't spend a year touring Europe."

Sarah grabbed the hot skillet off the stove, turning quickly and swinging it at Marty's head. She ducked and jabbed Sarah in the stomach. The pan was dropped to the ground and Sarah put her hands on her knees, recovering from the blow while Marty grew concerned.

"Crap. I'm sorry. It was a reflex. Are you ok?"

Sarah, pretended to still be hurt and once Marty's guard was down, she rushed forward, her shoulder in Marty's stomach, lifting her off her feet, and slammed her into the wall, breaking a picture frame in the process.

McGruff rushed to Marty's aid but she wouldn't allow it. Still pinned to the wall, she yelled, "McGruff. Sit!" And he did.

Marty bent forward and wrapped her arms around Sarah's waist, grunted with effort, and lifted her up, her legs in the air and her head a foot from the floor. Not wanting to hurt her sister, any more than she already had, she eased Sarah down to the floor and stood over her.

Chuck stood, speechless, and watched as Marty offered her hand to Sarah. She acted like she was done and was going to take it then suddenly kicked Marty's leg's out from under her. Her feet flew up in the air and she landed on her back with a thud. There was nothing Chuck could do as the girls began grappling on the floor, Marty clearly winning.

Chuck rushed forward to help, "Sarah."

"Chuck, sit!" Was her reply. He stayed out of the way.

Morgan came out from the bathroom and instead of standing with Chuck, he immediately intervened.

"Hey, hey, hey. You girls break it up. What's wrong with the two of you?" He bent down, grabbed each girl by the ear and pulled them up, "You're sisters. You're not supposed to be rolling around, fighting like a bunch of drunk sorority girls. Now, I want you two to apologize to each other, right now!"

"She started it." Marty pointed the finger at Sarah.

Sarah looked offended, "Did not. You started it by lying to me."

"I lied to protect you."

"That's fine. But, who's going to protect you?"

Marty made a 'Yeah Right' face, "Protect me from wha-" Before she could finish, Sarah had picked up a nearby vase and flung it at her head. She ducked and picked up the first thing she could reach, a picture frame of Sarah and Chuck together, and threw it back, pissing Sarah off even more.

"That was my favorite picture!"

Marty challenged, "Do something about it then."

Sarah screamed, pushed past Morgan, knocking him down and charged after Marty again. Marty stepped out of the way and pushed Sarah into the dining room table, breaking the centerpiece in the process. Sarah grabbed a chair from the table, picked it up and threw it. It was kicked out of the air and into another picture frame hanging on the wall. A candle stick soared through the air in response but Sarah moved out of the way. It had been thrown with enough force that it drilled a hole, causing it to stick into the wall.

Morgan, who had made his way back over to Chuck asked, "How do we break this up?"

"I don't think we can." Was Chuck's response as another crash was sounded through the home and both men flinched at the breaking of the coffee table.

The door opened and Casey came in, a gun in hand, and dropped it at the sight in front of him. He walked over to Chuck and Morgan, "What the hell is going on in here Bartowski? All I can hear on surveillance is women grunting and things breaking."

"Well, it's kind of a long story. Basically, Marty is some kind of super secret agent who never talked during her torture test and Sarah's kind of pissed about it. Her being an agent I mean…Actually…I think she might be mad about her never giving in during the torture test too."

"Walker's sister never cracked during her interrogation test?"

Chuck just shook his head, still watching his home being destroyed by the two women.

"Twenty on Walker junior."

Ten minutes, and a demolished living room and kitchen later, Elli came in the still open front door holding baby Clara, followed by Awesome. They made their way over to Chuck, Morgan, and Casey, who were seated at what was left of the dining room table, which now was missing two legs and sitting at an angle, all casually drinking coffee. McGruff laying on the floor at their feet under the table.

"Is this Columbian?" Casey asked.

"Yeah, we picked it up on our last mission."

"It's good."

"Chuck? Why are Sam and her sister trying to kill each other?" Ellie asked.

"Well it started out because Marty lied to Sarah about being an agent. Then it rolled into the fact that Sarah had lied to Marty too. A few minutes ago it was about their dad liking Sarah more, which led to their mom liking Marty more and now I think they're fighting over a boy that Sarah stole from Marty when she was ten."

"Sibling rivalry. Not awesome." Devon observed.

"Who's winning?" Ellie asked.

"I am!" Both women answered at the same time.

"You realize I'm going easy on you." Marty told Sarah.

"By all means, don't hold back."

"I have to."

"Why's that?"

"Because, if I didn't, you would have been dead two seconds after your first punch."

The party wasn't complete until five minutes later when Alex showed up. Ellie and Awesome were sitting at the kitchen counter, also drinking coffee as Chuck held Clara, making faces at her. Alex stormed straight past the fight and over to Morgan, "We need to talk."

Morgan glanced at Alex then looked away, "Why? So you can break up with me?"

Alex was hurt, "What? Why would you think that?"

"I saw you with your little boy toy at the jewelry store. I don't need you to draw me a picture. I get it."

"What's the idiot talking about Alex?" Casey asked, finding their conversation more interesting than the two women rolling around on the floor.

Alex was confused until she thought back, "You were following me?"

"I had to. You were avoiding me. What was I supposed to do?"

The sound of Marty and Sarah grunting and breaking things was still going on in the background but everyone was wrapped up in Morgan and Alex's potential break up.

"You were supposed to trust me and know I would never hurt you like that!"

"Then what were you doing with that guy?"

"That guy? The one from the jewelry store?"

"Yes, the one you spent the night with!" Morgan looked back to the fight. Not because he was interested in seeing how it ended but because he didn't want to look at Alex.

"Morgan look at me." When he wouldn't, she grabbed his face and forced him to look at her, "That guy was my gay cousin from Fresno. He was helping me pick something out for you. I wanted a man's opinion. When we didn't see it at that jewelry store, the tenth jewelry store I had been to that week, by the way, we called it a day and decided to try again in the morning. He stayed the night and I spent the whole time talking about how wonderful you are. I've been avoiding you because I was building up courage. I told myself I wasn't going to see you again until I was ready."

"Ready for what?" A very worried Casey asked.

Alex ignored him and dropped down on one knee in front of Morgan. She pulled a ring box out of her pocket and opened it. Morgan gasped, his hand coming up to cover his mouth in surprise.

"Morgan Grimes, you are the strangest man I have ever met in my life. But you're also the sweetest, funniest, most wonderful man I've ever met. I could spend my whole life looking and I would never find anyone who makes me as happy as you do. Will you do me the honor of becoming my husband?"

Casey, obviously irritated, squeezed his coffee mug, breaking it in his hand. Everyone else in the dining room area watched, jaws dropped and Sarah and Marty even stopped, mid-fight. Sarah on her back pushing on Marty's shoulders, while Marty straddled her pushing her face into the floor.

"It's the Green Lantern ring." Morgan was in awe as he pulled the ring from the box.

"All the men's rings were so gaudy. So we went to a comic book store yesterday and I found this. I knew it was perfect the second I saw it." She waited, Morgan just stared at the ring, "Do you like it?"

"I love it." He handed it back to her, roles still reversed, "Put it on."

She slid the ring on his finger, both smiling ecstatically until their lips met in a kiss. The room was filled with smiling and applause, with the exception of Casey who still stared straight ahead, in shock. Marty and Sarah watched and shared the joy of the moment until Sarah took the opportunity catch Marty off guard and punched her in the face, restarting their fight.


	9. Chapter 9

An hour later, when there was nothing left to break, and all of their deep seated issues with one another had been wrestled out, a truce was called. It was a shaky truce since, in the hour since the fight ended, the girls had called each other a wide array of colorful, inappropriate names.

Morgan and Alex had moved to his bedroom about five minutes after the proposal, The Awesome's left twenty minutes after that, asking Chuck to just let them know who won in the morning. Casey was still sitting, with his jaw clenched, staring off into the distance. Chuck held a bag of frozen peas to Sarah's eye with one hand and fed her a slice of pizza with the other as she appeared to be too exhausted to lift her own arms. Marty held an unopened can of soda to her lip and fed herself, no where near as tired as Sarah. Both women's clothes were torn and Sarah was subtly trying to survey the extent of Marty's past injuries through the holes in her shirt. Finally, Marty exhaled loudly and put her pizza and soda down.

"I'll make it easier for you." She pulled her shirt over her head, leaving her sitting in just her jeans and bra. Her shoes were gone long ago, having been thrown at some point during their fight. She turned to Chuck while Sarah stood to get a closer look, "I'd tell you to cover your eyes, but you've already seen the whole show."

It was worse than Sarah imagined. Some scars were small, barely noticeable but in strange clusters like he had tried to draw pictures in her skin. Other wounds were similar to her arm, long and thick, while one spot, just above her right breast, was branded with his initials. All they would have had to do a week ago was make Marty take her shirt off and that mark would have been all the proof they needed. But Chuck was already on thin ice, having seen her naked, he couldn't exactly insist she go topless. He had gone through his 'Intersect is giving me weird messages, making me look crazy' phase and he really didn't want to go through an 'Intersect is giving inaccurate messages, making me look like a pervert' phase.

Sarah lightly touched the area, "M.A.L."

Marty laughed slightly, "Marshall Alistar Lawson. Mal. Appropriate, don't you think?"

"That son of a bitch." There were no words that could come close to explain the rage she had building inside of her toward Agent Lawson. She was definitely going to make a reappearance at Ft. Leavenworth. Soon.

The old injuries, not the almost naked Marty, was what finally got Casey's attention and he also moved in to inspect, "Is this one supposed to be a flower?"

"Why didn't you just tell him what he wanted to hear?" Sarah asked.

"Because." She looked up at her sister, "When someone tells me a secret, I lock it up." She smiled, "Or, are you forgetting about the backseat of Jimmy Weston's car?" For the first time that evening, Sarah and Marty laughed.

Chuck joined in, wanting to be part of the fun, "What happened in the back of -" Both women stopped laughing and glared at him. He cleared his throat and turned serious, "None of my business."

Sarah was hesitant, "Marty, I'm going to tell you something and I'm hoping, if I'm honest with you, you'll be honest with me."

"I can try." She replied pulling her tattered shirt back on.

She didn't like that answer but continued anyway, "I was recruited into the CIA after dad was sent to jail."

"So was I."

"I told them I would join as long as they let you go free."

"So did I."

"During my interrogation test, one of the agents running things told me he cheated on his wife. That was the secret they tried to get out of me and I gave in after three weeks."

"The girl who worked as the recorder for mine told me she picked her nose and ate it."

"You almost died for that?" Chuck questioned.

She turned to Chuck, "Would you want people knowing you picked your nose and ate it?"

Sarah continued, "I've been working for the United States government for over ten years."

"Me too."

"As a spy."

Marty didn't respond so Sarah asked, "What happened after your interrogation test?"

"Classified." Before Sarah could get upset, Marty continued, "But, I can tell you a story, like mom used to tell us."

"I like stories." Casey leaned forward, ready to listen.

"Not too long ago, in a land not that far away, there lived two-"

"Princesses?" Chuck asked with a child like gleam to his eyes, already on the edge of his seat. It earned a smile from Sarah and a disgusted sneer from Casey.

"Sisters." Marty replied quickly.

"Princess sisters?" He asked, still hopeful.

Sarah wrapped her arm around Chuck's head, placing her hand over his mouth and pulled him back, then released her hold on his mouth but left her arm wrapped around his head, holding it to her shoulder, "Shhh."

"One day, the leader of a nearby village came with his army and took away the father of the sisters."

"Princesses." Chuck said more to himself than anyone else in the room.

"One sister returned home in time to see her father taken away in shackles. There was nothing she could do to help him so she ran to a secret spot in the forest to retrieve everything she and her sister would need to survive on their own. The second sister, who actually had friends, stayed behind at the school to socialize."

Chuck laughed and looked up at Sarah. When he noticed she wasn't laughing he stopped and put his head back on her shoulder.

"The leader of the village found the older sister-"

"Only slightly older sister." Sarah warned.

"Yes, only slightly older, but older none the less." She grinned at Sarah, "He found her in the forest and offered her the chance to join his army. Little did she know, another elder from his village was at the school, offering her sister the same opportunity. They were given a brief moment to say their goodbyes, each of them lying to the other and agreeing it was safer if they split up, promising to meet back in that exact spot a month later, and both knowing they were never going to keep that promise."

A guilty Sarah replied, "I wanted to."

"I know. I did too." Marty hesitated then returned to her story, "The only slightly older sister completed her tests, joined the army, and did quite well for herself. The transition for the younger sister didn't go as smoothly. We'll just say she ended up having to spend a lot of time with the camp's healer. Who wasn't a bad looking guy so it wasn't a total loss for her."

"Sounds like someone got a little dirty with the doctor." Chuck looked up and made his eyebrows dance for Sarah.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "That's my little sister your talking about."

He smiled awkwardly, realizing his slip then turned his attention back to Marty.

"One day, while still being tended to by the healer, and boy could that man tend…" She looked off in fondness of the memory until Casey cleared his throat. Marty returned to the story, "A troll who spoke in riddles came to visit her. He said he had no name, and that he didn't even exist but wanted her to join a special army of people who also didn't exist. A flying dragon would be leaving at sundown to take her to their fortress and he hoped she would be on it."

"What did she do?" Casey was very interested in the story.

"She finished being tended to, packed a bag, and hopped on that dragon."

"Just like that?" Sarah asked.

"She was already told by the other army that the damage to her body was too great for her to be of any use to them. She was kind of short on options."

"Why didn't she contact her sister."

"That was the plan. While she was laying in her hospital bed, after being told she was useless, the idea was to find her sister, apologize for missing their appointment, and live happily ever after with her."

"What changed?"

"The troll mentioned to her that her sister had already been accepted into the army and there was no room in her life for family anymore."

"He lied." Sarah, even more enraged than before, now had a second person on her list of people to visit. She'd just have to figure out who the troll is and where to find him. One thing about trolls, they always had cozy desk jobs somewhere. If she could get Marty to share more, it wouldn't be difficult to find the right desk.

"Yeah, well…hindsight."

"What's the special army called?" Casey interrupted, hopefully.

"Since they technically didn't exist, they didn't really have a name." Casey leaned back and dropped his shoulders in disappointment until Marty continued, "But, in other stories I've heard, they were referred to as The Elite."

Casey's eyes lit up brighter than a child's on Christmas morning, "I knew it! They do exist! I have so many questions. Most important first, what kind of weapon do you carry?"

"Casey, calm down." Sarah warned as Marty walked over to her back pack, picked it up, and brought it back to the lopsided table.

Chuck was confused, "But we already searched your bag."

"Care to take a closer look?" She handed it to Chuck.

Closer look at what? It was a back pack. Well, not really a back pack. It was only slightly smaller than one of those packs that hikers wear. At least two feet long. There was nothing really exceptional about it until Marty pulled on a small hoop that was attached to one of the shoulder straps. Chuck jumped when thin, two four inch long handles popped out of the top of the bag from the area that rests against the carriers back. Why hadn't he noticed before that the back was hard, and not just flimsy material like the rest of the bag? He stared at the handles then nervously grabbed them and pulled out two short swords. The whole moment was very anti-climactic.

Casey was a mix of disgusted and confused, "That's it?"

"That's all I need."

"No guns?" He was still baffled.

"I don't like guns."

"How can you not like guns?"

"There's zero creativity involved and, at the end of the day, you just don't get the same satisfaction you'd have had you used your bare hands."

Casey perked up at her admission and Sarah noticed, "Too young."

Casey, grunted and continued to ponder Marty's non-existent arsenal, as Chuck replied laughing, "What kind of spy doesn't carry a gun?"

"First of all, do you carry a gun?" Chuck stopped laughing and suddenly found his lap very interesting as Sarah smiled knowingly, "Second of all, I never said I was a spy." Chuck looked confused as Casey perked up once again, "Assassin." he stated with a slight smile.

Chuck's eyes widened, "An assassin?" He turned to Sarah, "You're sister's an assassin."

Sarah didn't seem pleased, "Yeah, I figured that much out a while ago."

His expression turned to confusion and he looked at Marty, "But you just said you don't like guns."

"Guns don't kill people, Chuck. Killers kill people."

"Indeed." It was really the only response he could think of. He began to re-examine her bag, "This is so neat. I wonder why it's not in the intersect." Not realizing his slip, he continued to check the bag for more secret compartments.

"Chuck!" Sarah warned.

"None of our equipment is on record anywhere, not even in there." Marty explained as she tapped her finger on Chuck's forehead.

Sarah was shocked, "You know about him?"

"The oldest sister traveled to other kingdoms, doing what was necessary to protect her home. But, eventually, she was assigned to be a guard for a very special princess." Casey laughed. Well, it was as close to a laugh as Casey usually gets and Marty smiled at Chuck. He smiled back as she continued, "Until, of course, the princess magically learned how to protect herself."

His smile dropped when he realized she was talking about him, "What? Me? I'm the princess?"

"The Intersect Project is highly classified." Sarah said.

"Not high enough."

"How long have you known?" Sarah asked.

"Since you were assigned to him. I get weekly status reports on you." She turned to Chuck, "Did you know there is a direct correlation between your spy abilities and your hair length? If you ever got completely competent, you'd probably go bald."

"No danger of that." Casey said.

"And I only pretended to not know who Shaw and Larkin were. I was always pulling for you." She smacked him in the shoulder.

"Thanks." He said rubbing the spot she hit.

"I guess my reports on you were full of lies." Sarah said.

"Not all of them. Those pictures of me at Disney World last summer were real." Smiling at Chuck, she continued, "That place was full of princesses." She seemed content to let everything end there until she remembered, "Oh, before I forget. Someone's put a hit out on you Chuck." She said casually, picking up her swords.

"How do you know?" Sarah asked, worried.

Marty maintained her laid-back demeanor, "Because I was sent to kill him."


	10. Chapter 10

Without hesitation, Sarah stood and put herself between Marty and Chuck, holding up a very small hand gun pointed at her sister. Casey also stood quickly and aimed his gun at her. Marty looked at Sarah's weapon, confused, "I just spent an hour and a half wrestling with you and, I can honestly say, I have no idea where you pulled that from."

"If you want him, you're going to have to kill me first Marty." Sarah dared her sister.

"Whooooa." Chuck stood and moved in front of Sarah, blocking her from Marty. "I don't think the killing of anyone is necessary here. We're all family, aren't we?"

"Of course we are. I was joking." Marty said.

"Some things aren't funny." Replied Sarah.

Marty looked around Chuck to her sister, "Were you really going to shoot me?"

"If it meant protecting Chuck. Yes." Sarah answered as she and Casey put their weapons away. Casey lowering his slower than Sarah had.

"Well that's a relief. We're all still breathing and no one wants me dead." Chuck said.

"No. You're on someone's kill list. Just not mine."

"What?" Sarah was concerned, "Who's?"

"All I know is it's a private contract. I heard about it through the grapevine just before I got here."

"What do you mean you heard it through the grapevine? Assassins have a grapevine?" Chuck was slightly upset having just heard there was someone trying to kill him.

"More like a weekly newsletter." She replied.

"Marty." Sarah warned, trying to get to the truth.

Marty explained, "It's kind of a known fact that sometimes, agents like to freelance." Chuck looked at Casey and he nodded in agreement, "You just have to know the right people to talk to for a job."

"And you talk to those people?" Sarah asked.

"It's called networking. And I do it to make sure no one I care about is in trouble."

"Who could you possibly be friends with that would have an assassin after them?" Sarah asked incredulously.

"For starters? Chuck."

"Let's not argue about this. We need to start brainstorming and figure out who it could be." Chuck started pacing and thinking. He stopped, "Shaw. He can be running it from inside his cell."

Marty shook her head, "Yeah…not Shaw."

"How do you know?" Chuck asked.

She pulled the blade of her sword up to her shoulder, "Classified." To better illustrate her point, she slide the back of the blade across her neck.

"Sarah, your sister is very scary." Chuck said then continued to think, "Then it has to be one of his Ring associates out for revenge."

Marty smiled, "Classified."

"All of them?" Casey didn't think it was possible.

"That was a busy month." Everyone simply stared at her in disbelief, "Oh yeah, those dead CIA agents that keep popping up…"

"How do you know about them." Casey asked.

Marty gave him a 'How do you think?' look and Chuck asked, worried, "Did they die protecting me?"

"No." He was temporarily relieved until Marty continued, "They died trying to kill you."

"Good guys? Our guys?" He was surprised.

"I wouldn't exactly call them good guys. I mean, they did have very big guns pointed at your head."

"What happened to them?" Sarah asked.

"Classified?" Casey tried to answer for her.

"No. I wasn't ordered to kill them."

"Then who did?" Chuck asked.

"Oh, I did. It just wasn't classified because I did it in my free time."

"It's good to know you have hobbies too keep yourself busy." Sarah was being facetious.

"Can't be all business all the time."

"So, you've been protecting me?" Chuck saw Marty in a new light.

"Yeah, well…you're Sam's Bella."

"I'm her Bella? Why can't she be mine?" He was slightly offended.

"Because, you just don't sparkle like she does." Marty looked at Sam, grinning wide, hoping she scored points with her sister.

"Charm isn't going to get you out of this one Marty. We need to figure out who's after Chuck."

"It really doesn't matter because, whoever they send, I have it under control." Her face suddenly turned to uncertainty as she realized something, "Unless…"

"Unless…" The three other people in the room asked at the same time.

"Unless the people I work with get involved. Which, they'd only do if the price was right."

"What's the price?" Chuck asked.

"Well, me having killed the past few people who've tried has kind of increased the degree of difficulty, thus increasing the level of danger, increasing the price."

"What's the price?" Sarah asked, again.

"Started out at a couple million but it's probably doubled by now."

"Is that enough to get them involved?" Sarah questioned her sister.

"No." Marty looked offended, her same unsure face returned, "But…"

"But…" Again, the three people in the room asked.

"They do like a challenge so, if the degree of difficulty keeps increasing, they might want to give it a go."

"Give it a go? This is my life we're talking about here." Chuck was, understandably, concerned.

"And I've done a good job of protecting it so far, haven't I?" She moved closer to him, "Chuck, you are very important to my sister, making you very important to me. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

Casey interrupted, "How many can we expect?"

"There's seven others."

"That's it." Casey had spent the better part of the evening in disbelief, "We'll just have Beckman send in the troops."

"Are any of the troops unaffected by large sums of money being thrown at them to kill someone?"

"She's right." Sarah said, "We're all we can trust with this."

"Ok, so seven of them, four of us." Casey was planning.

"Three of us." Sarah corrected.

Chuck was momentarily confused then offended, "Four!" He turned to Sarah, ready for a fight.

"I'm not putting you in that kind of danger Chuck." Sarah said, beginning their own conversation that Casey and Marty watched.

"It's my choice and I'm not going to go hide while my girlfriend and her little sister fight my battles for me."

"There is no choice. You're not going to be involved at that's final!"

"You keep forgetting I can take care of myself now. It's not like before when I had to cower behind you while you got rid of the bad guys."

"If I remember correctly, you never cowered. Before you could protect yourself you were still jumping into harms way to help us. If you're stupid enough to do that with no training, then what kind of decisions are you going to make with the intersect telling you how to dodge bullets?"

"So I'm stupid?"

"If you think I'm going to let you anywhere-"

"Oh, you're letting me now?"

Sarah had enough, "Don't you understand? I don't want you there for me, not for you!"

She softened, "I'm not sure you realize how much you mean to me Chuck. I don't care if anything happens to me."

"Or us, apparently." Marty interjected and Casey grunted in agreement.

Sarah continued, ignoring her sister, "But, if anything happened to you-"

"Hey." He held her face in his hands, "Nothing is going to happen to me." He kissed her and pulled back, smiling, "I have too much to live for. It would take fifty assassins, a flood, and dismemberment to keep me from you." They shared a smile, "Besides, worse comes to worse, Marty just said she wouldn't let anything happen to me. That's got to be worth her taking a bullet to protect me."

"Everyone's so quick to put the sister in danger." Marty said to Casey.

"Welcome to the outside of the Charah circle of love." Casey replied, disgusted.

"Charah?" Marty didn't like it.

"I combined their names like the kids do when describing two people in a relationship. It was either Charah or Suck. I picked the better of the two."

She thought about it, "Yeah, I guess you did." She turned her attention back to Chuck and Sarah who were having their own moment, foreheads pressed together, "Glad you two worked things out because we'll need all the help we can get. Don't be surprised if I give your little bearded friend a gun." Marty said.

"No!" For the third time, the three other people in the room spoke simultaneously.

"Morgan could look at a gun, without touching it, and he'd still manage to accidentally shoot someone." Chuck explained and continued, "What's next?"

"We wait and see. If they show up, I'll know."

"How?" Sarah asked.

"They know why I'm here. If they come for him, they'll give me a heads up first."

"Why?" Was Chuck's response.

"Ups the degree of difficulty for them. In the meantime, no one goes anywhere alone. Especially not Chuck."

They adjourned their meeting, Sarah pulling Chuck to their bedroom and, before he left, Casey pulled Marty aside, "What's your kill count?"

"What's yours?"

Casey grunted a response that said, 'Touche' and headed out the door, Marty following him.

"Casey." He turned back to face her, "More than 5, less than 1,000...ish."

He gave her his Casey head nod, made a 'Not bad face' and continued to his home, Marty shutting the door behind him.


	11. Chapter 11

**The next morning, Marty was sitting at the dining room table, which had magically been repaired over night, reading a newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee. McGruff was laying at her feet. Sarah and Chuck came out of their room and stopped suddenly when they saw that the table was fixed and the rest of the house had been cleaned up as well.**

"**What happened in here?" Chuck asked.**

**Marty answered without looking up from her paper, "I had a busy night."**

**He walked to the table and hesitantly leaned on it, finding it to be able to support his weight, "Wow. That's sturdy."**

"**I spent some time in jail a few years ago. Picked up a trade."**

"**What?" Sarah just kept finding new things out about her sister everyday.**

"**How much time?" Chuck asked.**

"**Two years."**

"**For what?" After a lovely, relaxing night with Chuck, Sarah was right back to being wound up.**

"**Breaking and entering. It's a good thing they didn't find the body or it would have been a lot longer than that."**

**She was never going to get used to hearing her baby sister talk about killing people and hiding bodies. She sat down across from Marty, "Couldn't your boss get you out?"**

"**Not if he doesn't exist." **

**Chuck sat down as well, with a mug of coffee for Sarah, "Let me ask you something. Why can't you just tell whoever is in charge of you what's going on and have him order your co-workers to stay away from me?"**

"**Because our boss doesn't know about the whole freelance thing so, narcing would just turn them all against me."**

"**We wouldn't want that, would we?"**

"**You're not the one who has to work with them everyday. How about you tattle on seven trained killing machines then tell me how it goes for you."**

**Casey came through the door at that moment, "I just got off the phone with Beckman, another body was found." **

**Sarah and Chuck turned to Marty, "Like I said, busy night." She pulled her newspaper back up to read.**

**Chuck looked at McGruff, still laying on the floor, "What? No more early alert system?"**

**Still reading her paper, she replied, "He's gotten accustomed to everyone's different habits for approaching the door. He only alerts for footsteps that he doesn't recognize."**

**Casey went back to his reason for being there, "Beckman's not very happy about her agents being killed and hearing that she doesn't have the clearance to know why. We all have to go to Castle for a meeting."**

**Chuck wasn't sure why Beckman was kept in the dark, "Why can't we just tell her what's going on?" **

**A frustrated Marty dropped her paper, "Because, people have a hard time accepting the truth."**

"**And what would the truth be?"**

"**That sometimes, the people we want to trust most are the people we shouldn't trust at all. She'd never accept that her own agents are out to get you. It would go against everything she believes in." Marty raised her paper back up, "Besides, those agents had families and I'd rather their kids think of them as hero's who died in the line of duty than forever be branded as traitors."**

"**Traitors who's spouses would never see their pensions either." Casey added.**

"**I'm not sure how the moral compass works on that one." Chuck said confused, "If you're so concerned for the families, why did they have to die at all then?"**

"**I'm giving their families piece of mind and monetary compensation. Why is it never enough?"**

"**One more question. How did the cases receive such a high classification that Beckman can't even know the details?"**

"**Called in a favor."**

**Sarah was surprised, "That's a huge favor from someone very high up in the food chain."**

**Marty shrugged, "People like me."**

**Morgan and Alex finally emerged from his room, dressed for the day, giggling and holding hands. **

"**Isn't it a beautiful morning?" Morgan went around the room hugging everyone. He went to Casey last, "Morning dad." He wrapped his arms around his soon to be father in law and, surprisingly, Casey raised his arms and hugged Morgan back. Everyone in the room smiled at the heart warming moment until they noticed Morgan began turning an odd shade of red and they heard the air being forced out of his lungs. It would seem Casey had ulterior motives. **

"**Dad, let go." Alex warned. **

**Casey listened and dropped him to the ground, but only after Morgan stopped struggling, appearing to be dead. Casey's face fell in disappointment when Morgan finally gasped for breath. Alex helped him up and he rested his hands on his knees, still taking deep breaths, "No hard feelings big guy. You just don't know your own strength and got caught up in the magic of the moment."**

**Before Casey could lunge for him, Marty stepped in, "You two ready to go?" she asked Morgan and Alex.**

"**Where are you headed?" Sarah inquired.**

"**Well, I bumped into these crazy kids when they had the 2 a.m. after sex munchies…" Casey looked like he wanted to vomit, "…and we decided to get some wedding stuff done."**

"**I can go with you." Sarah looked forward to spending some none spy-assassin related time with her sister.**

"**No, you're probably going to be busy with work, what with all the dead bodies popping up, so we're going to pick out some flowers, maybe check out a few caterers. Busy day ahead of us."**

"**Does your busy day involve you killing anyone?" Chuck asked.**

"**Not sure. Let's just see where the day takes us, shall we?"**

**Marty started to head to the door with Morgan and Alex and McGruff tried to follow her. She simply held her hand up and he stopped, then she pointed over his head. He dropped his head, slowly turned, and walked back to the living room, laying down with a sad huff.**

"**Not taking the glorified knives with you?" Casey still couldn't get over the fact that he saw the only weapon she carried in an infomercial cutting through chicken bones, aluminum, and cake.**

"**Just because you can't see them, doesn't mean they're not there." And, with that, they left.**

**Casey, Chuck, and Sarah sat at the conference table in Castle, waiting for General Beckman to appear on the large screen.**

"**I think we all need to get our story straight before the meeting starts." Chuck said nervously just as General Beckman appeared on the screen, "Or not."**

"**Thank you all for coming and not bringing Mr. Grimes."**

**At the mention of Morgan's name, Casey growled. **

"**I'll get right to the point, there is someone very high up covering the murders of top CIA and NSA agents. I want to know why, I want to know now and I want you to investigate."**

"**You want us…" Chuck gestured to himself, Casey, and Sarah, "…to find out who's been killing your agents?"**

"**No, I want you to find out who's been killing our**** agents. Or, are you forgetting Mr. Bartowski, that you are employed by the United States Government and not the Burbank Buy More?" **

"**How can I forget when you're always there to remind me?" He mumbled again.**

"**Care to repeat yourself?" Beckman challenged.**

**Sarah stepped in, "General, with all due respect, I don't think it's wise to be looking into something that we're not authorized to-"**

**Without letting Sarah finish, Beckman interrupted, "I've authorized you. Don't disappoint me." With that, she shut down the video conference.**

**Chuck exhaled deeply, "I guess this is a good thing, right? Putting us in charge of the investigation means we can cover for your sister." Just as Chuck finished his statement, General Beckman reappeared. **

"**I almost forgot, I've sent one of the CIA's top investigators to assist you in your search. He's been briefed on the Intersect Project."**

"**Is there anyone who doesn't know about the intersect?" Chuck asked, annoyed. Sarah kicked him under the table.**

"**Excuse me?"**

"**Nothing ma'am. We look forward to meeting whoever it is you've sent." He smiled awkwardly just as the door to Castle slid open.**

"**You won't have to wait long, that should be him now."**

**The team looked up to see who entered and, upon seeing his face, Chuck flashed. **

**Marty, Alex, and Morgan spent their morning in several flower shops before they finally agreed on the best color theme, making it easier to decide on the right flower arrangements. It took a while to convince Morgan that, despite the fact that Sarah and Chuck were spies and very proud to be American, there was no way they would want their wedding color scheme to be red, white, and blue. They ordered the bouquets and several other decorative arrangements then set off to find a cake. **

**Again, the women had to talk Morgan down form something he was very excited about. An ice cream cake shaped like Master Chief from Halo. They finally agreed it could be the groom's cake and Morgan insisted Sarah was going to be very jealous since hers was simply covered in flowers and butterflies. How lame was that?**

**Shortly after they left for the day, Marty knew they were being followed. She didn't want to worry Morgan and Alex, so she continued to casually inspect their surroundings and wait for a possible attack. Usually, she could figure out who was following her and get the drop on them but, for the first time in a long time, she was clueless as to who kept appearing briefly in her line of sight whenever she turned around. In fact, as soon as she would catch a glimpse, they would disappear just as quickly. She knew that only meant one thing. At least one member of her team had decided to take a shot at Chuck. Literally and figuratively. **


	12. Chapter 12

"Chuck, I trust you can handle the introductions. I'm late for a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff." Once again, Beckman ended the meeting.

The mysterious new member of Team Bartowski walked down the steps and approached the table. Chuck stared in disbelief, "You look just like your dad." He extended his hand.

The stranger smiled, "I'll take that as a compliment. Thank you." He shook Chuck's hand.

"Chuck." Sarah interrupted, "Introductions?"

"Oh, right." He let go of the agent's hand, "Casey, Sarah, this is special agent Owen Graham. Son of previous CIA director Langston Graham."

Sarah jumped up, extending her hand, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Owen. You're dad mentioned you to me a few times. He was very proud of you."

"Yes well, I was pretty proud of him."

"He was a great man." She added

Casey stood and shook his hand, "Sorry for your loss."

Owen simply nodded as Chuck still stared, speechless.

"Why do you look so surprised?" Casey asked.

"It's just hard to think of Graham, or anyone else in charge, having children."

"He wasn't a robot." Casey replied.

"That we know of. I mean, you're a robot and you have a kid." Chuck smiled

"What do you have so far on these murders?" Owen asked as everyone took a seat at the table.

Sarah spoke for the team, "Nothing actually. Aside from the identity of the agents, we don't have much to go on."

"All their files are locked up tighter than a virgin's legs on prom night." Chuck smiled, proud of himself.

Sarah glared at him, "You don't get to hang out with Marty anymore."

"I was just thinking the same thing." Chuck agreed, his smile dropping.

"So, we have to solve five murders-" Owen began but was interrupted.

"That we know of." Chuck added earning another kick from Sarah.

"With no evidence, no bodies to examine, and no witnesses?"

"So it would seem." Chuck answered.

"All we have is identities and locations of where the bodies were found." Owen stated.

"Just identities. We don't have locations. I mean, if we did, that would be something to go on. It would probably crack this case wide open. Darn it anyway." Chuck rambled, uncomfortable.

"I guess it's a good thing I have them then." Owen pushed a button on the remote that operated the computers and a map of the area appeared on the big screen with a red spot indicating where each body was found.

The team's collective jaw dropped. Especially knowing the Bartowski home was the sun in the solar system of murders.

"We need to figure out if there's anything significant about this area here." Owen gestured to the same spot on the map that the rest of the room was worried about, "Sarah, Casey, why don't you two take care of doing that while the intersect and I go check where the bodies were found. See if he can flash on anything."

"Good plan." Casey stated shortly as he stood to go over to one of the other computers in the room. Sarah stood to follow him and Chuck gave her his wide, 'we're in trouble' eyes.

"You know," Sarah approached the map with Chuck beside her, "it probably has nothing to do with this but, we all live here." She pointed to a spot.

"What are you doing?" Chuck mumbled through his frozen smile.

"He's going to find out anyway, it would be worse if he doesn't find out from us." Sarah whispered back.

"Huh." Owen stated while looking closer at the map, "All three of you live right there and you're not concerned that this might have something to do with you?"

"The crime rate in that area is just out of this world. I mean, constant shootings, stabbings, salad shooterings. Very dangerous area. If it weren't for how amazing the school system is, we'd move but, getting married soon," He grabbed Sarah's left hand and held it up, showing her ring, "probably going to just start popping kids out right away…" Sarah shot a surprised glare at Chuck, "…you know, like when Billy spilled water on Gizmo and five more Mogwai's popped out all cute and hairy, then he fed them and they turned into the evil gremlins. Kind of like kids but they get evil when you don't feed them and, obviously, I know pouring water on Sarah isn't going to cause any reproduction. I know how reproduction works-"

"Chuck." Sarah broke him of his nervous rant, "I'm sure Agent Graham knows how it works as well so there's no need to continue." She flashed a quick but frustrated smile. Owen was confused by his rambling.

"My point being, you need a good school system and that's why we can't move." He wrapped it up and Sarah shot her gaze forward, also nervous, "Besides, if someone was killing agents in our area, don't you think one of us would have been attacked by now?"

"Maybe." Owen eyed them suspiciously, "We should get going Chuck."

"Yes, we should." He gave Sarah one last pleading look, not wanting to go it alone with Owen, and started to walk to the door, still holding Sarah's hand. When it reached the point that both their arms were stretched as far as they would go, and Chuck still wouldn't release her hand, she forcefully pulled it from him. Owen noticed the interaction, "Just hard to be away from each other. Right sweetie?"

"See you at home honey."

Casey and Sarah returned to the Bartowski home after concluding that their apartment complex was really the only notable common denominator in the murders. When they walked in, Morgan was sitting on the couch, Alex on his lap, and Marty was setting the table, McGruff standing next to her. Casey sat in the chair next to the couch and stared at the young couple until Alex to slide off Morgan's lap.

Sarah walked over to her sister, "We need to talk." She looked down and noticed McGruff was holding a mouthful of forks, "We're not using those."

"Why not?" Marty asked. "You've been eating off them all week."

A disgusted Sarah pulled the silverware from McGruff's mouth and took it to the kitchen sink, bringing back clean utensils, "Beckman assigned an agent to investigate the murders."

"What murders?" Marty continued to set the table as McGruff sat, waiting for her to finish..

"The murders you committed."

Marty started at her sister, trying to think of what she was referring to, "You're going to have to be more specific."

"The agents you killed to protect Chuck."

Marty smiled, "Yeah, I know. Just wanted to see how long you'd go with it."

"This isn't a joke Marty, why didn't you hide the bodies better?"

"What are you talking about? I did. I could have left them right outside in the courtyard where I killed them. Instead, I dumped them a few miles away. Why are you being so ungrateful?"

"Because, the new guy somehow found out where the bodies were found."

Marty thought briefly, "Ooooh. I can see the dilemma now." He face turned to confusion, "Why is someone even investigating?"

"Beckman can't accept that she isn't allowed to know what's going on and she wants answers."

"Well, she is going against a direct order. That's big time trouble for her. You want her fired?"

"No, I want Agent Graham out of the picture."

"Done." Marty walked away then returned, "Just so we're clear, when you say out of the picture, do you mean dead?"

"What? No! Just get him off the case."

"Right, I'll make a call." Sarah stared at her sister, waiting. Marty pulled out her phone, "I'll make a call right now." She turned and left the room.

Just as Marty left, Sarah's phone rang. She picked it up and saw the picture of Chuck making a goofy kissy face that she assigned to his profile. No matter how badly her day was going, when he called and she saw that image, it always made her smile. This time was no different. She answered, "Hello?" Just as quickly, her smile was gone, "What do you mean he's coming to dinner? Make an excuse. I don't care what you tell him, he can't come here!"

McGruff stood and stared at the door. Remembering what Marty said about him only being on alert for people he didn't recognize, Sarah pulled her weapon from behind her back, "I have to go, someone's here."

As she reached the door, it was pushed open to reveal Chuck standing, with the phone still to his ear, smiling awkwardly, "Honey, we're here." Sarah put her gun back in her waistband behind her back.

Owen added, "I hope you don't mind me joining you. I was just talking to Chuck about where I should go for dinner and he suggested I come home with him."

Sarah smiled, "No, not at all. Come on in." Owen walked past her, into the house. Before Chuck could follow she put her hand on his chest and pushed him out the door, shutting it behind her.

"What were you thinking?"

"He mentioned food and I panicked." Chuck replied.

"What did you tell him about Marty?"

"Just that your sister was visiting and to keep the spy talk to a minimum because you don't want her knowing what we do."

Sarah seemed satisfied with his answer, "Did you find anything while you were out?"

"No, but he wrote a lot of stuff in his little notepad."

"No flashes?"

"Not unless you count the bum in the second alley we went to who did a sexy dance and expected a tip for it."

Sarah made a disgusted face and started to walk back into the house but Chuck grabbed her hand, pulling her back to him, into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and she smiled up at him.

"I'm sorry I invited him to dinner."

"It's ok. He'll be gone soon. I put Marty on it."

"You don't mean…"

"No! She's getting him removed from the case."

"Then all our problems will be solved and we can get back to concentrating on our future together." He pushed her hair back behind her ear and left his hand resting on her neck, thumb gently rubbing her cheek.

"Well, I'd rather concentrate on things in the immediate future. Like, say…tonight."

"Concentrating on tonight sounds like a great plan to me." They shared a smile and he moved in, kissing her lightly until they were interrupted.

"PSSSST."

They broke apart and looked up to see Marty leaning out of Chuck's window, motioning for them to come closer. After looking around, they walked to the window.

"Mission accomplished." She raised her hand, expecting a high five that wasn't returned by Chuck or Sarah because they walked away to return to the house. Instead of lowering her arm, she gave herself a high five.

Chuck and Sarah walked in to find Owen on the phone, pacing in the entryway, phone to his ear, "Yes sir. I understand."

He closed his phone and Chuck saw his frustration, "Everything OK?"

"Not exactly. I just got a call telling me to return to D.C.."

"What?" Chuck feigned surprise as best he could, "Why? We were just getting rolling with this. I was starting to feel like we had a Cagney and Lacey vibe going. Too bad, guess you have no choice but to head home."

"No, I have some time off and I'm going to be taking it to continue the investigation unofficially."

"Yaaaaaaaay." Chuck replied, trying to sound enthusiastic.

"That doesn't seem like the best idea. If you were given an order to get back to Washington, it's probably best that you do." Sarah added.

"General Beckman was a good friend of my father's. She asked me to do this as a personal favor to her. I'm not going to let her down."

Marty poked her head out from the hallway, only noticed by Sarah, and held her hand in a thumbs up gesture with a big grin and head nod. Sarah subtly shook her head to indicate that the plan had not worked and Marty's smile disappeared, replaced by a look of sheer determination. She emerged from her hiding spot, drawing attention to herself, "Hey everyone, glad your home. I slaved over a hot phone for five minutes ordering take out. Who's your friend?"

"Marty, this is Owen. He works with Chuck."

"Oh? With the Geek Group?"

"Nerd Herd." Chuck corrected, more for his own benefit.

"Owen, this is my sister Marty."

Marty extended her hand in a very flirtatious way, for Owen to take. When he did, she held on to his hand with both of hers, "Nice to meet you Mr. tall, dark, and…single?"

Owen smiled, "Very single."

She continued to hold his hand, "Then it's even nicer to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine."

"Soon enough." Marty replied as Chuck and Sarah's jaws dropped and eyes widened simultaneously.

She maintained eye contact with him. "Why don't you round everyone up for dinner and We'll meet you there." She smiled, "Save me a seat." He continued to look back at her as he walked away, with Marty hesitant to let go of his hand. She bit her lower lip, bobbed her eyebrows, and finally let go. Owen walked away smiling but unsure of what just happened. Marty's flirty face disappeared once he had turned his back to her.

"What are you doing?" Sarah asked, angry.

"You want him gone, Plan B didn't work so now I'm moving on to Plan C."

Sarah was irritated, "What was Plan A?"

"Killing him but you already put the kibosh on that one."

"So, what's Plan C?" Chuck asked.

"I'm going to make him fall in love with me then break his heart so badly he'll have to leave town." Again, she held her hand up, waiting for a high five and, again, Sarah and Chuck just walked away from her, leaving her to high five herself.

"Terrible plan." Chuck said.

"Never going to work." Sarah added.


	13. Chapter 13

It had been almost a week since their dinner with Agent Graham and, surprisingly, Marty had been on four dates with him in that short time. Chuck and Sarah didn't want to admit it but, it would seem, her plan was working. Owen seemed to be forgetting the reason he was sent to Burbank and, instead, spent every free moment with Marty. The team was doing everything they could to keep him from anything related to the case and Chuck even managed to intercept a fax from Beckman asking Owen to send her a status report. Casey insisted there was only one way to ensure Agent Graham never see the fax and coaxed Chuck into eating it. Once it was swallowed, Chuck would swear he heard Casey murmur, "Idiot" as he walked away. He was so caught up in the heat of the moment that he forgot fire was also a viable option in the destruction of the paper.

Chuck sat at the Buy More Nerd Herd desk, bored out of his mind. Usually, these moments were reserved for fantasies of Sarah wearing the skimpiest outfits imaginable, or sometimes just a smile. But, with everything that had been going on, Chuck's mind was racing with cover-ups and assassination attempts. There hadn't been any more agents found since Owen arrived and Chuck had a feeling that Marty knew why.

His mind continued to wonder from dead bodies to Agent Graham. Agent Graham got him thinking about Marty. Marty lead him to worrying about someone trying to kill him. That thought resulted in panic that, if something happened to him, the future he had always dreamed of with Sarah was going to be very short lived. And that thought, made his brain train come to a complete stop at Sarah Station. His Sarah…never Sam. The woman who held his heart from the moment she walked into the Buy More with a broken cell phone and continued to hold it through fake break ups, life threatening missions, good-guy ex's, bad guy ex's, and everything in between. He smiled as he thought about her eyes, her smile, the way she cut the crusts off his sandwiches for him, and how she let him be the little spoon sometimes. Because, every once in a while, a guy likes to feel safe and secure. Then of course, thinking of her in bed with him led to other thoughts and…there it was…he was back on track with his normal work day fantasies.

He had just settled in to his favorite, that involved Sarah dressed up as his own special version of Number Six from Battlestar Galactica, when Lester broke him of his trance, dropping a telephone book on his lap. He curled up, in pain.

"Install order. You're turn to go out." Lester dropped the paper work in front of him and walked away.

When he had finally recovered from the blow, Chuck headed for the exit. He was five yards from the door, and heard "Whoa there, where you headed?" It was Morgan.

"Home install." Was Chuck's simple reply.

"Aren't you supposed to be operating on the Buddy System? You know, not going anywhere without a partner?"

"I'm sure it will be fine Morgan. I don't think…" He looked at the paper work for a name, "Margery Smithson at the Sherman Oaks Retirement Community…" he looked back up, "Will be of any immediate danger to me."

"Yeah, well it's better to be safe than sorry. Take Casey."

"Casey on an install?"

"You're right. I'll go with you."

Chuck laughed, "Right, because if this is a trap, and there is a group of assassins waiting there to kill me, you're going to be the difference between me living and dying."

"At least you won't die alone."

"A depressing, yet good point. You can come but I'm driving."

"Can I drive on the way back?"

"No."

"Deal. Let's go."

After looking over his shoulder for Casey, and not finding him, Morgan reluctantly followed Chuck out of the Buy More and into the unknown.

Not more than a few minutes later, Sarah and Marty entered the store, holding a bag, presumably lunch for Chuck. They approached the Nerd Herd desk, where Jeff and Lester were thumb wrestling, and went unnoticed for several seconds before Marty rang the bell for assistance. Lester looked up at the women, back down to what he was doing, then quickly looked back up, snatching his hand away from Jeff's, "Ladies, good afternoon."

Sarah did not want to participate in pleasantries with Lester, "Where's Chuck?"

"On an install. Is there something I can help you with? And by 'help' I mean…" He looked around to make sure no one was listening and dropped his voice to a whisper, "…sexual favors." His voice returned to normal and he eyed Marty appreciatively, "Who's your friend?"

Sarah responded, "Never going to happen. Where's the install?"

"I am not at liberty to discuss the location of agents in the field. It's highly classified."

"Do they know…" Marty began to ask.

"No." Sarah responded quickly, "He's just being Lester." She turned her attention back to the small man, "Did he take Casey with him?"

"Did who take Casey where?" The women turned around to see Casey behind them and Marty immediately pulled out her phone and dialed. They were surprised to hear Chuck's phone ringing on the other side of the desk.

Sarah turned back, leaned over the desk and picked it up then looked to Jeff and Lester, very upset, "Where's the install?" She wished, in that moment, that she had never started trusting Chuck enough to let him stop wearing the watch with the tracking device in it.

Lester looked at Jeff and they shared a nod, "Alas, I cannot tell you until you complete the tasks."

Jeff whispered, "The tasks."

Sarah turned to Casey, who had a small touch screen computer in his hand and whispered, "Tracking on the Nerd Herder?"

After a brief moment, Casey replied, "Disabled."

"Why would he turn the tracking off?" Sarah asked.

"Because he's Bartowski and he doesn't think he needs a baby sitter." Casey replied.

"We don't have time for this." Sarah gestured to Lester and Jeff.

Casey turned to them with a sinister glare, "I could loosen their lips."

"If you do not wish to attempt the tasks…"

Again, Jeff whispered, "The tasks."

Lester continued, "Then we'll be on our way. Good day."

They started to walk away but Sarah stopped them, "Fine, what are they?

They both turned, surprised, "Really?" Lester asked.

"Yeah."

"Oh, wow. This is so exciting. No one's ever attempted the tasks…" Jeff looked like he was about to repeat him but Lester stopped him, "…not now Jeffrey. Ok, um…only one of you may attempt them."

Marty answered quickly, "I'll do it."

"Excellent. I like a lady with chutzpah."

"No, it should be me." Sarah replied.

"You could wrestle for it." Jeff suggested.

"Not as exciting as you'd like to think." Casey interjected.

Marty pulled Sarah aside, "Your heads not clear. I'll do it."

She returned to the desk, "What have you got?"

Lester started, "If you fail to complete any task, you must go on a date…"

"With both of us." Jeff added.

Lester continued, "Clothing optional."

"What's first?" Sarah asked, wanting to get right to the point.

"This doesn't involve you blondie." Jeff said to Sarah.

"First, you must knock the golden egg from it's pedestal using this." Lester held up a piece of paper.

"Golden egg?" Casey questioned.

Jeff and Lester gestured to the front of the store and, over in the corner, about ten feet up, there was a small shelf with a golden egg the size of a football resting on top of it.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Casey had worked in that store for four years and never noticed it there.

"It's been here longer than you have." Lester answered, "We put it up for occasions such as this."

Jeff added, "We knew someday, someone would need information from us."

Without wasting more time, Marty grabbed the paper from Lester, picked up another phone that was sitting on top of the Nerd Herd desk, wrapped the piece of paper around it, and walked to the corner.

"What's she doing?" Lester asked, nervous. Sarah and Casey both smiled knowingly.

When she was only a few feet away, she threw the object in her hand, hitting the egg and causing it to shatter. She walked back to the desk where Jeff and Lester were staring in disbelief.

"That was my phone." Lester was shocked.

"Second task?" She asked.

He broke free of his stupor and smiled smugly, "Bring us the hair of a virgin."

Again, without hesitation, she grabbed a pair of scissors off the desk, reached forward, quickly cut off a chunk of Lester's hair, and slammed it on the desk.

"Very funny." An embarrassed Lester said. Marty and Sarah looked at him, daring him to say she's wrong, "Why not Jeffrey?" He asked, the slightest hint of a tear playing at the corner of his eye.

"Because, virgin is a relative term nowadays and I find it hard to believe he hasn't stuck his junk in something."

Jeff merely nodded in agreement.

"Next?" Sarah asked, feeling a little smug.

Jeff let a creepy smile form, "Kiss a girl…" He turned his gaze to Sarah, "…in front of us."

She looked at Sarah and received a nod in approval. Jeff and Lester stood, anxiously awaiting the moment as Marty gently grabbed Sarah's neck and moved in slowly, both men leaning forward for a closer view. Even Casey seemed very interested in where things were going. The anticipation grew as they moved closer and closer. The women licked their lips at the same time, eye lids slowly closing and, at the last second, Sarah tilted her head down and Marty kissed her forehead. They looked up quickly, the spell broken on everyone in the area who stopped to watch.

"Damn, I wish we had been more specific on that one." Lester turned to Jeff, "She is really burning through these."

"There's no way she'll complete the final task." Jeff told Lester and they shared a smile, looking back to Marty, Sarah, and Casey.

"Ah, yes. The final task. You must defeat Jeff in a drinking game."

All movement in the Buy More ceased and all the employees stared at the Nerd Herd desk.

The next minute, they found themselves in the Buy More break room, Marty sitting across from Jeff, and surrounded by green shirts chanting, "Feed the beast! Feed the beast! Feed the beast!" As money exchanged hands throughout the room.

Lester explained, "The game is a hybrid of 'Bullshit' and 'I Never'. Allow me to explain the rules." He picked up his pace, speaking rapidly, "You will make an 'I never' statement. Your opponent has the option of believing you and, if they have done what you claim you have not done, they drink. If they haven't done it either, you drink. If you think your opponent is lying, you can call bullshit. If they are, in fact lying, they drink. If they were telling the truth, you drink. No matter what, every turn, it's guaranteed someone will drink." He hoped the plan to confuse Marty worked and his speaking pace slowed back down, "First to pass out or vomit is the loser. The drink is of Jeffrey's choosing."

Jeff reached down and pulled two milk jugs up, full of a blue liquid, and slammed them on the table. A green shirt poured it into two glasses. Marty sipped hers to know what she was dealing with, turned her head to the side, and spit it out, disgusted. The crowd went wild.

"What is this?" She asked.

"It's my own brew. Whiskey, industrial strength cleaner, and human sweat."

"I'm drinking your sweat?" Marty looked as though she already wanted to vomit.

"Never said it was mine."

Marty moved to get up but Sarah pushed her back down, "Hey." She smacked her in the face lightly, "You get it together. Chuck's out there, somewhere, and this is our only shot of finding him. I don't want to think about what might have already happened. You need to do this for me and you need to get it done quickly."

Marty turned back to face Jeff and nodded, signifying she was ready. Lester added, "Home team goes first."

"I've never had sex with a man." Jeff said confidently.

Marty eyed him briefly and said, "Bullshit."

He looked around nervously then took a drink.

"I never had sex with a woman." Came Marty's reply.

The entire room seemed disappointed, "Man! I was really hoping she had." Lester said to Casey. Jeff took another drink.

Ten minutes and some very revealing moments for Jeff later, Marty couldn't feel her face and he was swaying. It didn't hurt that he started out over confidently drinking more than he needed to in an effort to intimidate her. She had been banking on the fact that Jeff was a weird guy who would have tried anything once and she was right. It was also fortunate for her that she could tell he was lying and he had no way of knowing when she was.

"You have to let me throw in the towel." Lester pleaded with Jeff.

"No. Go'er rie weriwaner."

Marty looked at Jeff as if she was seeing into his soul, "I ne'er had an eating dishorder." Her words were only slightly garbled.

Jeff continued to sway, looking into her eyes. He turned to Lester and slurred, "I had image shews in school."

Lester patted him on the back, "I know buddy. I know."

Jeff took his final drink, smiled, then passed out, face first onto the table, The green shirts went wild again. Lester reluctantly handed Sarah a copy of the install order and she and Casey quickly headed out the break room door. Marty stood to follow, fell to the ground, then got up and left, walking slightly to the right.

It had been twenty minutes since Chuck left on the install, which was ten minutes away, driving the speed limit. She knew they could make it in five. Her mind was already out of control with images of what might have happened to the only man she'd ever truly love. In those five minutes, she made every promise to herself imaginable. Mostly she told herself that, if he was ok, she wouldn't be mad, just thankful.

They pulled up to the address, seeing the Nerd Herder parked out front and rushed out of the Crown Vic, guns and swords blazing. The swords slightly behind the guns and less steady as Marty was even more affected by Jeff's blue brew. Casey and Sarah stopped at the door, one on either side of it and they nodded to each other. He stepped in front of the door and kicked it in, allowing Sarah to charge in first, Casey directly behind her and Marty further behind, stopping to lean on the broken door frame. They turned to the living room and were surprised by what they saw.


	14. Chapter 14

"Hey guys." Chuck said with uncertainty, not sure why they entered in such a manner. He was sitting at a computer in the living room of the small home, "This is Mrs. Smithson." They looked at the elderly woman, who was still in a state of shock from her door being kicked in, but she managed a small wave. Casey and Sarah shared an awkward moment where they realized they might have gone a little too far. Chuck continued, "We were just installing a webcam so she can see her grandkids in Minnesota. Why don't you say hi to the kids." He stepped to the side to reveal two children, no older than five and seven years old, surprised at what had just happened in their grandmother's house. They also noticed Morgan was sitting on the couch, a plate of cookies in front of him, and a photo album on his lap.

"Hi kids." Sarah said.

"Stay in school." Casey instructed the children. They nodded, mouths open and he turned to Mrs. Smithson, "Sorry for the intrusion ma'am." He looked at the damaged door, "We were just doing an integrity test on all the doors in the area. This one definitely needed to be replaced. We'll send someone right away."

Sarah looked away, embarrassed for the mix up and Marty rushed forward, to a nearby potted plant, and threw up the entire contents of her stomach.

"Lovely home." She said from her position on the floor, head still in the pot.

"What are you all doing here? With weapons?" Chuck asked. They had forgotten their guns were still drawn and quickly hide them from the view of the children. Marty tried to hide her swords but didn't get far since she was still drunk and dry heaving.

"What happened to your sister?" Morgan asked, disgusted.

"Drinking contest with Jeff." Sarah stated.

His eyes lit up, "She did the tasks? I can't believe I missed that."

Sarah walked over to Chuck, angry, "Why didn't you tell any of us where you were going?"

"It was just an install. I didn't think it was that big of a deal." He defended.

"The tracking device in the Nerd Herder was disabled." Sarah countered.

Chuck turned to Morgan, frustrated, "I told you to stop pushing buttons."

"I tried but it's so hard not to push a button when it's right in front of you and you're told not to push it. The curiosity is just too much for me." Morgan replied.

Sarah held up Chuck's cell phone and he looked at it, excited, "Hey! You found it!"

"You left it at the Buy More. How could you be so careless Chuck?" Sarah asked.

"You said you weren't going to be mad at him." Marty reminded her from the plant.

Sarah changed her tone to a forced pleasant, "Sweetie, would you care to explain to me how it is that you didn't take your phone with you when you left the Buy More?"

"I'm sorry…before I left…I was… distracted." Chuck hesitated in his words, embarrassed by them.

"What was so distracting?"

If possible, Chuck appeared even more embarrassed. He looked around, at everyone else in the room, nervous, then leaned in and whispered in her ear. Her eyes widened in surprise. She leaned back and looked at him, surprised, "And you'd like that?"

"Yes. Very much."

"We'll see." She was still angry and he smiled at her response.

"What's the big deal guys? I sent a text to Casey when we got here saying everything was all clear." Morgan stated.

Sarah and Chuck looked at Casey as he reluctantly pulled out his phone and glanced at the screen, "It would seem that he did. It must have been when we were in the break room and the natives were going wild."

At the mention of the break room, Marty vomited again, when she was done, she addressed the homeowner, "This is a peace lily, isn't it?"

"Yes." Mrs. Smithson replied.

"I am so sorry." Marty responded and, despite having chunks of vomit in her hair, it was the most genuine apology Sarah had heard from her sister since she arrived.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to go home and hold my sister's hair back." Sarah helped Marty up, "We'll talk about this later."

Chuck and Mrs. Smithson watched them leave, "That girl's got you on a short leash."

"Tell me about it." It was Morgan who replied instead of Chuck.

That night, after Chuck got home, Sarah took him into their bedroom and showed him two things. One, was how angry she was with him for going off with just Morgan as back up.

Morgan sat on the couch while Marty was curled up in a ball at the other end, still recovering from whatever it was she drank that made her urine blue. They were pretending they couldn't hear the yelling but it was difficult to ignore. She was mad at him for going off alone…He wasn't alone, he had Morgan…There was an angry laugh and, apparently Sarah believed Morgan was such a hindrance, Chuck may as well have been alone, with a broken appendage. Morgan could only nod in agreement. Chuck defended his friend…Sarah told him not to change the subject…He told her she needed to trust that he can take care of himself…She did, but he needed him to understand that they were dealing with something that none of them were ready to face…He was sorry…Sorry wasn't enough…He swore he'd be more careful…She couldn't lose him, it came out in a sob…He told her she wasn't going to…And then there was silence because, it would seem, they had transitioned into the second thing she wanted to show him. How relieved she was that he was safe. The silence was short lived and Morgan and Marty realized this interaction was going to be more uncomfortable to hear and impossible to ignore. McGruff, who was on the floor in front of Marty, covered his ears with his paws and whined.

Morgan had enough, "Want to go get a pizza?"

"Can't." Was Marty's embarrassed response, "They're not exactly on high alert so, if we leave, no one's here to protect them."

"Correction, if you leave, there's no one here to protect them. Have fun." He stood to leave.

"McGruff." Marty called.

The dog stood, stared at Morgan, and growled. Marty continued, "You will not leave me here by myself."

He sat back down, a disgusted look on his face that matched Marty's and she had to ask, "Is it always this loud?"

"No idea. Usually, at the first sign of a moan, I either put on headphones and crank it to eleven, or leave."

The next day, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and Chuck and Sarah were sitting next to each other at the dining room table with goofy grins on their faces, eating lunch. Marty and Morgan were also at the table, avoiding eye contact with the pair, both uncomfortable.

"Good sandwich." Morgan grasped for conversation and Marty could tell because he hadn't even taken a bite of it yet.

"Yeah." She agreed, her sandwich also untouched.

Chuck turned to Sarah, "Best sandwich I've ever had."

They could tell the statement had a different meaning because Chuck had a flirty tone to his voice and Sarah responded, equally as flirty, "Did it satisfy you?"

"I can honestly say that sandwich satisfied me more than any other sandwich I've ever had and I could eat it every day, for the rest of my life…several times a day."

"I'm done." Marty stated and pushed her plate away from her.

Chuck stood, "I have some Nerd Herd stuff to catch up on in our room." He looked down at Sarah "Would you care to join me?" He grinned at her.

"I'll be right there." She smiled back.

"Don't take too long." He kissed her before going to his room.

Sarah eyed Marty but her sister refused to return her gaze. Still staring straight ahead Marty asked, "Yeah?"

"I wanted to talk to you about your relationship with Agent Graham."

"It's not a relationship, it's Plan C. I'd prefer if we referred to it as such."

"Ok. How far have you gone in your effort to accomplish Plan C?"

Marty was confused until Morgan spoke up, both women forgetting he was at the table, "She wants to know if you're hittin' that."

Marty shot her gaze to Sarah, shocked, "My personal life is none of your business!"

"Don't you mean Plan C?" Marty narrowed her eyes at Sarah as she explained, "I just want to make sure you're not blurring the lines. I've seen you two together and you seem just as head over heels as he does."

"First of all, I'm not that kind of girl!" She added a side note to Morgan in a kinder tone, "At least, as far as he knows, I'm not that kind of girl." She smiled and nudged him with her elbow. He laughed. She turned back to Sarah, smile gone, "Second of all, when I look at him like I'm falling in love," She turned to Morgan again and gave him the look Sarah was referring to. She softened her tone, as if she were reciting a love poem to him, "and I touch him like I'm falling in love," She placed her hand on Morgan's cheek and slowly leaned in as if she were going to kiss him, her forehead pressed against his. For the briefest of moments, Sarah had to remind herself that her sister and Morgan weren't really together, "and everyone in the room thinks I'm really falling in love," She moved her mouth forward, ever so slightly, almost touching Morgan's. He appeared to be under her spell until she pushed his face away and turned back to Sarah to finish, "it shows how committed I am to making Plan C believable!" She left the table but returned, "Third of all, I didn't eat that sandwich but I'm sure it's terrible!" Sarah gasped, taking offense as Marty continued, "If you'll excuse me, I have to go call my boyfriend and set up our date for tomorrow night!" She stormed off again.

Morgan and Sarah sat in awkward silence until he felt the need to fill it, "Not that I would ever know, because Chuck refuses to give details about how his sandwich is made. But, I'm sure it's not terrible." Sarah simply got up and left.

That night, after Marty had apologized for insulting Sarah's sandwich and Sarah had apologized for insinuating that her sister had slept with Agent Graham (which she still wasn't entirely sure she hadn't), the home was filled with the residents of the apartment complex. Well, the residents of the Bartowski home, the Woodcombs, Casey, and Alex. They stopped inviting creepy Kevin in the corner apartment to their functions because, he always stared at Sarah and, every time he left, something of hers would go missing.

They had decided to have an impromptu rehearsal for the rehearsal dinner but it was really just an excuse for them to all get together, one last time, before the waves of wedding madness started crashing down around them. It was only two weeks away, after all.

Everyone was having a great time talking, laughing, and dancing. Alex even managed to get Casey on his feet for a few songs. Then, the power went out.

"Power outage?" Ellie asked.

"No, the lights in the courtyard are still on." Sarah replied.

"Morgan," Chuck asked, irritated, "did you forget to pay the power bill?"

Morgan was offended, "It was one time Chuck."

"It was three times Morgan so it's not wrong to think that maybe you forgot again."

"Very good point." He responded.

"Hold on, I have some flashlights." Chuck moved around the apartment, bumping into things.

"Who do you think you're grabbing moron?" Casey asked Morgan through clenched teeth.

"Sorry. Thought you were Alex."

"Still not a very good excuse for where your hands were."

"No, it is not. You are, most certainly right. I will just put my hands in my pockets."

"Not cool, bro." Awesome was the next to break through the silence.

"Accident. Your waist is at the same height as the drawer I was looking for." Chuck responded. His success was marked when he turned one of the flashlights on and began passing a few more around the room. They heard a low rumble and Marty pointed her light at the front door. McGruff was staring at the door and the rumble they all heard was him growling. Something he had never done in that situation before.

"Well, that's different." Chuck observed.

"They're here." Was Marty's simple reply.


	15. Chapter 15

"How many?" Casey asked.

"I don't know." Marty replied, still calm, "They're trying to draw us out. Where are your guns?"

The familiar sound of a slide being racked on a pistol filled the room, "Never leave home without it." Casey replied.

"I can do you one better Casey." Was Sarah's response. Chuck followed her with his flashlight as she approached the counter that separates the kitchen from the living room. She put her hand under the edge and a click was heard. The top of the counter slowly raised to reveal several shelves of weapons. Casey grinned and moved forward, grabbing the biggest gun available.

"Everyone take one." Marty stated. Devon and Alex moved forward to the weapons.

"We don't do guns." Chuck gestured to himself and Ellie as she held Clara close.

"You do tonight." Was her response as she put a gun in his hand and returned to the others.

Marty was showing Alex how to operate a weapon when Casey walked up to Morgan, holding a shotgun, and thrust it toward him.

He raised his hands and took a step back, "Probably not the best idea."

"Morgan, look at me." He obliged, "When we go out there, you're the one I'm counting on to protect everyone in this room. Now, I need you to step up and keep these people safe. Keep my daughter safe. Can you do that?"

Morgan filled with a new found confidence and held his head higher, "Yes. I can do that."

"Good man." Casey pushed the gun at him and walked away.

Morgan stood in surprise, hugging the shotgun to his chest. Had Casey just referred to him as a man? His mind raced with all the father and son moments they had ahead of them, ballgames, fishing, cigar rooms, torturing insurgents for information…his thoughts were cut short when Marty grabbed his shoulder and pulled him to the couch.

"Help me move this." They turned it to be parallel with the door to provide cover for everyone staying behind.

Marty spoke again, "They probably won't come in here but it's better to be safe than unprepared and dead. This should just be them alerting us to the fact that they're coming for Chuck."

"Well, that's very considerate of them." Chuck interjected sarcastically.

"It makes the game more challenging for them if we know to expect them." She explained, "If we're not back here in ten minutes, it means I don't know them like I think I do and you need to run. Head out the bathroom window and go a block north. There's a black Excursion with everything you'll need in it." She tossed a set of car keys to Devon, "Ready?" She questioned Chuck, Sarah, and Casey.

Sarah pulled Chuck aside, "It's not too late. You can stay here."

"No, If you're going out there, then there's no way I can stay here."

She kissed him for what she hoped wasn't the last time but, just in case it was, she took her time and made sure to put everything she felt for him in it. They broke the kiss but stayed together for a moment before Sarah turned to her sister, wiped away the single tear that rested on her cheek, and nodded. The quartet went out the door, McGruff following behind them.

The courtyard was clear when they stepped out of the apartment. Marty turned to McGruff, "Perimeter sweep." He took off running and she faced the others, "Weapons down. We don't want to provoke them."

"Of course not." Chuck said, nervous.

It wasn't long before McGruff returned, barked twice and faced the entrance to the courtyard that was to the right of their door, "They're coming from the right." Marty said.

Always making a joke in times of crisis, Chuck asked, "Are you sure Timmy's not trapped in a well?"

Marty stood in front while Sarah tried to position herself so that she was just barely overlapping Chuck. That way, if anything unexpected happened, she'd be able to put herself completely in front of him. He caught what she was doing, caught her hand in his, and adjusted so they were side by side. It felt like forever but, merely seconds after McGruff returned, they saw movement.

Five people entered the courtyard from the right. Three women and two men, all wearing the same back pack as Marty but, instead of swords, they were all carrying guns of various sizes. The first woman was barely covered in a short skirt, revealing top, and heels that were so high even Sarah wondered how she moved in them. Casey recognized what she carried, two gold plated Desert Eagle .50 caliber handguns. Everything about her was ostentatious and he wasn't sure what turned him on more, the guns in her hands or the fact that he could just barely see her nipples through her shirt. The two other women were dressed casually in comparison. One held a large pump action shot gun with two belts for additional shells crossing over her body. The other carried a Dirty Harry style .44 Magnum revolver with a scope on it.

One of the men tried to look tough and intimidating but it was difficult to take him seriously due to the fact that he had a mustache that looked like a caterpillar trying to eat his face. He was equipped with two sawed-off pistol grip shotguns, one in his hands and the other hung over his shoulder. The second man carried a 12 gauge gatling shotgun that hypnotized Casey once he was able to rip his attention away from the Desert Eagles. It was just so big and…shiny. He looked down at his AR-15 and felt a little silly holding it in comparison.

The man with the large gun smiled, "Marty." It was stated more in relief than greeting.

She ignored him and turned her attention to the woman with the large revolver, "Mia."

"Marty." She acknowledged her.

"Why don't you go ahead and tell the twins to come on down too."

Again, the same man smiled at Marty's intuition and it didn't go unnoticed by Sarah.

Mia smirked and looked to the roof. Two ropes dropped down and two identical men, dressed in black, with matching assault rifles secured onto their back packs, slid down them.

"You know, he's probably worth more dead than what he's paying you to protect him." Mia stated, "You could always change sides, throw your hat in the hired hit man ring."

"I'll pass on that. I don't think you have any idea of how important he is." Sarah smiled proudly at her sister's statement knowing she was referring to Chuck being hers, not that he's the intersect.

Sarah then noticed Smiley Man give them all the once over, "Who are your friends?" He asked.

Marty continued to ignore him and Chuck stepped forward, "You can't hurt anyone else."

Mia, the spokeswoman looked confused, "Excuse me?"

Chuck continued, stepping past Marty, "I'm the one you want, you stick to killing me. Leave my friends and family alone."

Mia gave him a curious look, then agreed, "As long as they don't get in the way. Deal."

"A martyr. Sexy." The woman who wasn't wearing much stated and earned a glare from Sarah.

Marty gave her a look of anger then protectively stepped back in front of Chuck, "He's taken."

"You move on quickly." The woman countered, glancing at the man who kept smiling at Marty. Sarah noted he wasn't smiling anymore, there was something else in his eyes. Was it jealousy?

"How about you mind your own business." Marty replied.

Sarah had never seen her sister so angry before and that's when the interactions made sense. Marty was involved with Smiley Man and this woman came between them. Two more names to go on her list of people to inflict pain upon for hurting her sister. For all the 'names' she was adding to the list, she really only had one actual name. She'd have to correct that, "Going to introduce us?" She asked.

Marty's glare was broken by Sarah's question, "Why not? Everyone," She was speaking to the newcomers, "This is Casey." He grunted in response, "My sister Sam…"

Mia actually looked excited once the introduction sunk in, "I've heard so much about you." She smiled at Sarah.

"Makes one of us." Sarah replied, confused.

Mia stepped forward, putting everyone but Marty on alert. Chuck jumped in front of Sarah while Casey raised his gun and pointed it at her. Marty pushed the barrel back down as Mia extended her hand in a friendly gesture, "I'm Mia, it's very nice to finally meet you." Sarah leaned out around Chuck and shook her hand hesitantly. Chuck decided that this whole standoff was very confusing and he had to remind himself that these people were here to kill him.

Mia returned to her side of the line as Marty finished introducing them, "And the guy you all want to kill is her fiancé, Chuck."

Mia spoke first, "So that's why he's so important. Why didn't you say so?"

"Would it have changed anything?"

"Probably not." She looked to the rest of the group for confirmation and most of them shook their heads to say it wouldn't have mattered. Sarah noticed Smiley Man and the girl with the shotgun were the only two who didn't agree.

"Didn't think so." Marty replied.

Sarah waited, still wanting actual names for her list, "And they are?"

"Seriously?" Marty turned to Sarah and they had a short non-verbal conversation that consisted of a shrug and confused face from Marty, '_Does it matter what their names are?_'

Raised eyebrows and a stern look from Sarah, '_Yes. Do it now.'_

An eye roll from Marty, '_Fine._'

"You met Mia, that's Ben," Marty pointed to the man with the pistol grip shot guns, "Dude, I told you the mustache was creepy, shave it." Ben looked down embarrassed and Marty continued, "Those are the twins, Mike and Ike." Chuck let out an uncontrollable chuckle, "Not a joke. They're very sensitive about it. Mike's the fat one." The identical twins looked down at each other's waist line, "That's Aubrey." She gestured to the girl with the shotgun.

Aubrey smiled, overly friendly and waved excitedly. She spoke with a southern twang, "Hey. Sorry bout havin' to kill your hubby."

"She's a little bit of chicken fried." Marty smiled at her…friend? Is that what they were to her? It didn't really seem liked she disliked any of the people she had introduced until her smile dropped and she carried on, "The girl who's walks like a slut, talks like a slut, and dresses like a slut is a slut. So, you can just call her The Slut."

"I thought you said not to provoke them." Chuck added nervously.

"Don't provoke the ones who are good for something other than laying on their backs." Marty replied and continued, "That's everyone who matters…and The Slut, of course."

"What about me?" Smiley Man asked.

"Oh yes." She pretended she had forgotten, "The one with the gun so big that it's obviously for compensational purposes…" Casey, again, looked down at his own gun as Marty continued, "…is Trevor…my husband."


	16. Chapter 16

"You're what?" Forget about being a government assassin, it was this news about her sister that shocked Sarah the most.

"Soon to be ex." Marty added.

"We both agreed there was only one way either of us is getting out of this marriage." Trevor reminded Marty.

She tightened her grip on her swords, "Keep talking and that won't be outside the realm of potential outcomes for this situation."

He laughed, "You're not going to kill me Marty."

"How long have you been married? Sarah asked, still shocked.

At the same moment Marty said, "Doesn't matter." Trevor responded, "Three years, four months, and ten days."

"Eleven days." Marty corrected quickly.

"You've been married three years and you didn't think I'd like to know?" Sarah still couldn't believe it.

"Sam, we always knew I was going to get married at least four times in my life. Is it really necessary to know about all of them?" Marty asked, frustrated.

Chuck decided to break the tension, "Nice to meet you Trevor." He extended his hand to him.

"No, Chuck." Without breaking eye contact from Trevor, Marty pushed Chuck's arm back down.

"I just want to start out on the right foot. He's going to be my brother in law." Chuck stated, also hoping to make Trevor a friend willing to help protect them from the others.

"No. You're going to be my brother in law. He and I just agreed he's going to be dead."

"What did I do Marty? You haven't spoken to me in months, you took my dog…" McGruff growled.

"My dog." Marty replied.

"And you burned our house down."

Marty explained to Sarah, "It started out with just the bed and snowballed from there." She turned back to Trevor, "And don't act like you don't know what happened."

"You want to know why I'm acting like I don't know what happened Marty?" He changed from calm to frustrated, "Because I don't know what happened!"

"Maybe, and this is just a suggestion, we shouldn't upset the guy holding the small cannon." Chuck recommended.

"You three should get inside. Make sure they don't get antsy and leave before the ten minutes is up." Marty stated, still staring at Trevor.

"I'm staying here." Sarah replied.

"Then so am I." Chuck added, tightening his grip on her hand.

"I'll go." Casey stated. When he reached the door and turned the knob, he heard shuffling, loud whispers, and the racking of several fire arms from inside. Thinking quickly, he turned out of the way and fell to the ground just as holes of various sizes began to be blown through the door from Morgan, Devon, and Alex. The first round of fire ended, resulting in a rather large, chest level, hole in the front door. While, Casey was proud for the grouping of the shots, he was also pretty pissed, "It's me!" He yelled.

More whispers were followed by Morgan calling out, "Prove it."

"You're an idiot!"

"It's Casey." He stated to the others. As Casey got off the ground, Morgan's head appeared through the large hole, "How's it going out here?" He looked to the right and saw the large group of assassins eying him curiously. He smiled, gave them a head nod, then quickly pulled his head back into the apartment. Casey followed him inside.

"So, are you going to tell me why you left?" Trevor wasn't willing to let the situation go.

"Why don't you ask The Slut?" Marty replied.

"What does she have to do with this?" Trevor asked.

"I came home a few days early from Cairo to surprise you." She stated, assuming he'd be able to fill in the blanks but he continued to look just as confused.

"I was sent to Afghanistan just after you left. You're mad at me because I wasn't there when you got home?" Trevor knew his wife was anything but needy, so her reasoning wasn't making any sense.

"No, I'm mad at you because I found The Slut naked in our bed!"

Chuck gasped like he had just heard a plot twist in his favorite soap opera and turned to Trevor, shocked, "I can't believe I was going to let you be my second favorite brother in law." Everyone else looked just as surprised, including Trevor.

"What did she say?" The loud whisper of Ellie was heard coming from the hole in the door.

"She found one of their teammates naked in their bed." Was Morgan's whispered reply.

"The one with the shotgun?" Devon asked.

"No, the one with her boobs hanging out. Try to keep up." Chuck could have been wrong but he would swear that was Casey.

"I told you I wasn't even in the country!" Trevor defended.

"No, you told me you left just after I did. You never said when you got back!"

Ben raised his hand, like he needed permission to talk, unsure of what was going on.

"Yeah, Ben?" Marty asked only slightly more tolerant.

"Maybe you were in the wrong house." Ben was not the smartest guy in the club, Chuck concluded.

Everyone ignored him and turned to The Slut for an explanation, she merely shrugged and answered like it was no big deal, "You were out of town and I thought he might have been lonely. He was delayed coming home from his mission so I left and came back the next day. By then, the house was a big pile of ash."

"You thought he might have been lonely?" Sarah asked, possibly more upset than Marty, "And the fact that he's married?"

"Just made it all the more challenging." The Slut stated smugly.

"Whada bitch." Was heard coming from the house but Sarah wasn't sure who it came from.

"What is it with these people and challenges?" Chuck asked.

Marty glared at The Slut, "I'm going to count to five."

"She's giving you a head start." Mia said, "I'd get out of here now if I were you."

The Slut stood her ground briefly before slowly backing out of the courtyard.

"You didn't cheat on me?" Marty asked Trevor with a relieved smile. Even Chuck shared a smile with Sarah and a sniffle and collective 'awww' were heard coming from the house.

"No." Trevor stepped toward her.

She raised her swords, smile gone, "But you're still here to kill the love of my sister's life and that, while not as upsetting, is still something I can't forgive you for."

"Good to know you're prioritizing." Chuck said.

Trevor explained, "I didn't come here to kill him. I came to talk to you."

"Then what's with the Judgment Day gun?" Chuck asked.

Trevor shrugged, "Well, I figured if we couldn't work things out, I could get something out of the trip. No offense."

"None taken if you're on our side now." Chuck said, hoping to recruit a new ally in the fight to keep them all safe.

"That all depends on Marty."

"Marty is glad to have you back." Sarah smiled, "And, now that you're back together, you should join us over here."

Trevor walked over to their side and addressed Marty, "Next time you find someone naked in our bed, come ask me about it first."

"Next time I find someone naked in our bed, I'm killing the bitch."

"Deal."

They shared a smile and turned back to business.

"So," Marty asked, "How are we going to do this? Are all of you coming at once?"

One of the twins finally spoke, "No fun in that."

The other finished, "We drew straws to see who'd go first."

"Don't suppose you'll tell us the order we can expect you?" Chuck asked.

They all smiled in response.

"Right," Chuck answered for them, "Where would the fun be in that?"

"Just think of the challenge involved if you told us when to expect the first attempt." Sarah said, hoping to get some sort of information.

They looked around at each other, actually considering the idea until Mia answered, "I'll give you a hint. It won't be tonight."

"So very helpful, thank you." Chuck responded.

"Have a good evening." Mia stated as they all started walking out of the courtyard, "We'll be seeing you soon."

"Wait." Marty asked, "Do the twins count as one or two?"

"It's a surprise." Mike and Ike answered simultaneously as they left.

Chuck finally exhaled in relief, "That was…exhilarating. I think I'm going to go change my pants."

Marty grabbed Trevor's hand and pulled him into the house, Chuck and Sarah close behind, just as the power was turned back on.

"Oh." Chuck was surprised, "That was nice of them."

Trevor dropped his gun on the ground as Marty continued to pull him into the bathroom and shut the door. As soon as the gun was out of his hands, Casey tripped over himself to get a closer look at it.

Shortly after the arguing in the bathroom stopped, a different sound took over and everyone but Sarah, Chuck, and Casey (who was still inspecting Trevor's gun) quickly left.

About an hour later, the hole in the front door had been covered with the lid of a pizza box and secured in place by a piece of duct tape, serving as a hinge at the top. The television was turned up as loud as it would go while Chuck and Sarah watched a nature special on the flight patterns of migrating monarch butterflies, both pretending to find the program interesting.

"I never knew that about butterflies!" Chuck screamed over the TV.

"What?" Sarah replied, unable to hear him.

There was a faint banging and they worried things had started back up again when Chuck realized it was coming from the front door. He turned the TV down and walked to the door, standing to the side of it, prepared to lift the pizza box flap. Sarah provided cover, aiming her weapon at the hole and Casey even picked up the gatling gun, hoping to be able to use it. To his disappointment, once Chuck lifted the flap, they saw Owen bent down and looking through the hole.

"What happened to your door?" He asked.

"Termites. They go through at least one door a year. Come on in." Chuck replied, opening the door, just as a familiar banging was heard coming from the bathroom. Chuck, Sarah, and Casey all looked nervous when Chuck continued, "Sarah, why don't you go see if your sister is done in the shower. Let her know Agent Graham is here." He smiled, uncomfortably.

She walked away and Owen noticed the banging as well, "What's that sound?"

"Neighbors getting his pipes cleaned." Came Casey's casual response as he was back to staring at the gun and Chuck choked on his own saliva.

Sarah knocked on the bathroom door and called loud enough for Owen to hear, "Marty! You have company!"

After a few seconds, the door opened slightly to reveal Marty covered in a towel, a guilty expression on her face, "I'll pay to fix it."

"Fix what?" Sarah asked as Marty handed her the spout to the bath tub with a section of pipe attached to it. She eyed the spout-pipe combo before moving on to more pressing matters, "Owen is here."

The door opened a little wider and Trevor appeared, "Who's Owen?"

Marty wasn't sure she wanted to tell him but decided to anyway, "He's kind of my boyfriend." Her tone turned to that of a teenage girl, "I mean…nothing's official yet but I think he's going to ask soon." She turned to Sarah, "Give me a minute." The door shut and Sarah could hear them whispering angrily back and forth before Marty reappeared a minute later dressed and ready to go. Sarah glanced into the bathroom and noticed Trevor was gone.

Marty put on the most excited face she could for the situation, "Owen!" She hugged him, "What are you doing here?"

"I was sitting in my hotel room, thinking of you, and I figured I'd come by to see if you wanted to grab a late dinner." He replied.

"Well that sounds lovely. We should definitely do that right now. Let's go." She tried to rush him to the door but, before they reached it, there was a knock.

Chuck got up to answer and saw Trevor, dressed and jaw clenched. Chuck stepped aside to reveal him to the rest of the people in the house.

Trevor smiled, "There are my two favorite girls!" He stepped forward, picked Sarah and Marty up in a hug and spun them around so he was between Marty and Owen.

"Well, you're very strong." Chuck was surprised by his ability to handle both women with ease.

"Trevor!" Marty said just as shocked by the situation as Sarah, "Look Sam, Trevor's here!"

"I noticed." She replied, irritated and still unsure of what the cover situation was for this.

He placed the women down, "I hope you don't mind I'm a few weeks early but it's not every day your little sister gets married." He pinched Sarah's cheek.

"No," Chuck faked a smile, going along with the situation, "It's definitely not."

He turned to Owen and dropped his smile, "Who's your friend?"


	17. Chapter 17

"Trevor," Marty explained, "This is Owen. He works with Chuck. He's…" She hesitated, looking for the right word.

Owen extended his hand, "I'd like to think I'm her boyfriend." He smiled, proud that he'd admitted it to her family. He extended his hand to Trevor and regretted it once Trevor grabbed tightly and wouldn't let go. The pain was evident on Owen's face.

Sarah broke the moment, "You remember Chuck?" She asked Trevor who finally let go.

"Hey…buddy." Chuck smiled awkwardly but wasn't acknowledged by him.

"So, what did we have planned for tonight?" Trevor asked.

"Marty and I were just getting ready to go out to dinner." Owen replied.

"But I just got here. We have lots of catching up to do. Stay." It was more of a demand than a request.

"I suppose we can hang out here tonight." A disappointed Owen replied.

"That's the spirit." Trevor slapped him on his back, obviously inflicting pain again, and Owen left them for the couch.

Marty grabbed Trevor's wrist and pulled him back, asking him silently, mouth moving but no words coming out, "What are you doing?"

"What are YOU doing?" Was Trevor's equally silent reply before he turned back to follow the others.

Throughout the night, Trevor had managed to block every attempt Owen made to touch Marty. He couldn't, however, stop the goodnight kiss at the end of the evening because she slammed the door in his face after he tried to follow them outside.

Chuck walked up behind him and placed his hand on his shoulder, "Can I just ask, brother in law to brother in law," He looked around to make sure no one else was listening, "What exactly was it you did, I'm assuming at the end of the first time, that had her screaming that long, yet eloquent string of explicative's?"

Trevor ignored him, seeming overly concerned with what was going on in the courtyard.

"We'll talk about it later then." He walked away leaving Trevor at the window.

Owen and Mary had already been outside longer then he'd liked.

"You're brother is pretty protective of you." Owen stated.

"Yeah, always has been." Marty replied, admitting to herself that this whole seduction business was easier when she thought her marriage was over.

"I had fun tonight but, maybe tomorrow, we can be alone?" He said, hopefully.

She smiled at him, "I'd like that."

As they moved closer to share a kiss, Marty could see Trevor glaring at them through the living room window. She turned the movement into a hug and wildly gestured with her hand for her husband to get away from the window. He shook his head, eyes narrowed and jaw clenched. After returning the look briefly, her way of saying, 'Fine, be that way', she pulled back from the hug and kissed Owen passionately. Apparently, it was more passionate than Owen had experienced from her before because he was speechless when it ended.

"Wow." He stated, in a daze.

"See you tomorrow." She replied, unaffected, and left him standing in the courtyard as she returned to the house.

Once she walked through the door, Trevor grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to the bathroom. The slamming of the door was followed shortly by yelling. Chuck and Sarah knew where things were going since this process had occurred several hours earlier. They decided that, before things reached the point of awkward for a different reason, they would go to their room and make their own noises first, thus keeping Marty and Trevor too uncomfortable to continue with their own actions. Casey remained at the dining room table, cleaning Trevor's weapon, taking it apart piece by piece, oblivious to what was going on in either room.

The next morning, Sarah emerged from the bedroom to find Trevor and Marty at the dining room table eating breakfast.

Marty acknowledged her sister, "Hussy."

Sarah simply grinned and walked to the living room to find Casey curled up next to the gatling gun on the couch, a peaceful smile on his face.

"He's slept like that all night. We didn't have the heart to wake him." Marty explained.

Chuck, still asleep in bed, felt movement on top of him and smiled, "Didn't you get enough last night?" He asked with his eyes still closed. He felt lips on his and it only took a second to realize they weren't the lips of his soon to be wife. He opened his eyes to see The Slut hovering over him. Before he could flash or scream for help, a rag was over his face and he lost consciousness.

"Too bad. We could have had a good time before I killed you." She said as she reached for her bag and pulled a hacksaw from it.

"What part of taken didn't you understand?" Sarah asked, having returned to the room, Marty over her shoulder. She noticed Chuck still had his eyes closed, "What did you do to him?" She tried to get to Chuck but The Slut held one of her pistols up, aimed at Sarah's face.

"Don't worry Sam, can't kill someone with syphilis anymore and that, in combination with the herpes, are the most dangerous things about her." Marty advised.

Before she could respond to Marty's insult, Sarah grabbed the lamp off the nightstand and threw it at her. The Slut brought her hands up to her face to keep the lamp from damaging, what she thought, was her best asset. With the gun no longer pointed at her, Sarah lunged forward, tackling her and knocking her off the bed. Marty grabbed Chuck and struggled to drag him out of the room while the women fought.

"What's going on?" Trevor asked when Marty finally reached the dining area with Chuck.

"Slut's here. Sarah's handling it but just in case I'm going to get back in there. Can you revive him?" Marty explained.

By the time Marty returned to the room, Sarah had The Slut face down on the floor with the cord of the lamp wrapped around her neck. Once she stopped struggling, Marty couldn't hold back a laugh.

"Why is this funny?" Sarah asked, barely winded.

"It's lights out for that bitch!"

Sarah ignored her bad attempt at humor, "For being one of the governments top assassins, that was a little too easy."

"Never said we all excelled at everything. Her special skill was seduction. Most of her targets died in their sleep after sex." Marty bent down and picked up The Slut's guns with one hand, "One down, five to go." She held her other hand up to high five Sarah but she ignored her, grabbed the saw, and left the room to check on Chuck, "Are high fives just not cool anymore?" She asked the dead body.

When the women entered the living room Chuck was on the floor with Trevor over him, both with disgusted looks on their faces. Sarah rushed to Chuck's side and held him.

"They changed the order. Ben was supposed to come first." Trevor stated, looking like he wanted to gag.

"They knew we'd get the batting order from you and changed their tactics. What's with the face?" Marty asked.

"You told me to revive him." Trevor said and spit to the side.

"Yeah, with fresh air. She chloroformed him." Marty replied.

"I thought you meant he wasn't breathing." Trevor regretted not checking for a pulse or signs of breathing before putting his mouth on Chuck's.

"If it's any consolation, You have very soft lips." Chuck stated.

Sarah pulled back from Chuck and held up the saw, "Why?"

Marty looked to Trevor for an explanation.

"Whoever put the mark on him wants his head as proof." Trevor explained like it was no big deal.

"What?" Chuck was worried, "But I just recently found a hair cut that goes with the shape of my face. I don't want to be buried without my head."

"No one's taking your head." Sarah comforted him then turned to Marty, "You need to find out who put this hit on him."

Marty looked at Trevor, "Who's your middle man?"

"You know I can't tell you that." Trevor stated with an air of confidence and calm. Marty just gave him a more serious look, with her hands on her hips and he caved, looking down in shame, "Alonzo."

"Oh!" Marty started, excited, "You know what we should do? We should cut off The Slut's head and send it to the others as a message. How sweet would that be?"

"No." Sarah simply stated, "Get rid of the body." She felt the need to add, "Do a better job on this one and find me Alonzo."

"Rock, paper, scissors. Loser hides the body, winner finds Alonzo." Marty proposed to Trevor. They both held their hands up in fists, went through the motions then chose their weapon. Marty lost with paper to Trevor's scissors, "Damn it!"

"You always pick paper." He kissed the top of her head, "I'll be back in a few days. Don't get engaged or anything while I'm gone."

"I'll tell him he has to ask my brother for permission first." She smiled.

"Chuck, stay calm. Try not to lose your head over all this." He smiled and Marty was the only one to appreciate his insensitive joke.

Trevor grabbed his bag just as Casey was woke up. He stood, still clinging to the large gun and looked at Chuck, still on the floor, "What happened to you?"

"Almost got my head cut off."

Casey grunted then saw Trevor and grew visibly disappointed, "Oh...I guess you'll be wanting this back." He tried to hand the weapon over but Trevor looked at Marty and she shook her head.

"You know, I'm not going to be able to lug that around with me. Why don't you hold on to it for a while longer."

"Really?" Chuck and Sarah couldn't remember ever seeing Casey smile like that. His whole face lit up, "Thanks."

"See you soon." Trevor gave Marty one last look before leaving.

"Just like that? He's gone?" Chuck was shocked.

"We're get up and go kind of people. Hence the back packs." Marty explained. She remembered the pistols in her hands, "One more thing for you big guy." She started to hand them to Casey and he reached out just before she pulled them back, "But you have to help me get rid of a body."

"Deal." He smiled again as she handed the pistols over to him, "It's like every Christmas present I ever asked for is falling into my lap. All I'm missing now is an M1 Abrams."

It had been two days since the death of The Slut and no more attempts had been made on Chuck's life. Trevor still hadn't returned with Alonzo and Marty was finding it increasingly difficult to pretend to be in love with Owen. Sure, he was cute, funny, and sweet but none of those things interested her. If they had, the whole process would have been more tolerable. She knew he had never killed a man with plastic cutlery or spent months in the caves of Pakistan looking for known terrorists. Trevor had and that made her miss him even more. Especially considering Owen was a desk jockey out of D.C. (even though he didn't know she knew that) who droned on and on about her meeting his grandma and kept wanting to watch sunsets on the beach then spend the night counting the stars. Marty really hoped Sarah appreciated the enormous, jagged sword she was throwing herself on for the team with dating Owen. The right moment to break up with him was very close but she didn't know if she would die from boredom before then.

Sarah and Chuck were clinging to every possible moment they had together. They strongly hoped Marty knew what she was doing and that they'd be able to stop whomever was next to attack but, when it came down to it, they were terrified that every kiss, every smile, every touch might be their last. When you're living from moment to moment, you tend to appreciate the time you have together more and that made for a very uncomfortable living environment for Morgan and Marty. It was unpredictable, any time of day, and any number of times, chances of escape impossible for them due to the anticipation of the next strike.

Then, on the evening of the second day, while Chuck and Sarah were in their bedroom, McGruff stood at attention at the front door and growled. Morgan took his assigned position, ready to swing the door open quickly at Marty's command as she prepared for the unwanted visitor. Unexpectedly, there was a knock.

"Who is it?" She asked.

"It's me…Aubrey." Came the visitor's reply.


	18. Chapter 18

Marty nodded her head, signaling to Morgan that it as safe to open the door but she didn't drop her swords. Aubrey stood on the other side, hands free of weapons and waited until she was invited in. Marty stepped to the side and gestured for her to enter. A still suspicious Morgan eyed her, not willing to trust the woman, cute smile or not.

"It's alright Morgan." Marty stated. Only then did he relax slightly, returning to his cheese puffs and Disney Channel _Wizards of Waverly Place_ marathon on the couch.

Aubrey walked to the dining room table followed by McGruff and Marty, swords still in her hands.

"I'm next." She said, looking down at her hands, ashamed.

"Nooo." Marty pretended to be surprised, "You're not doing a very good job of slipping in undetected."

"I was thinking about it and it just don't sit right with me, killing your sister's boyfriend." She explained.

"Really? Well that's very sweet of you." She still wasn't buying the act.

Aubrey took in the fact that Marty hadn't put down her weapons, "Why do you still have a hold on your swords?"

"Because, Aubrey, we both know what's going on here."

"We do?"

Marty faked a southern drawl and batted her eyes, "I'm a cute, sweet southern girl who just wants to do right by you and your family. Please, trust me and let down your guard so I can do what I really came here to do, kill you and cut off your friend's head."

She acted like a child who had been caught trying to pull a prank, "Oh! Ok, you got me! What gave me away?"

"You're twang disappears when you lie."

"Does it really? Oh my goodness, that is so embarrassing." Aubrey laughed, humiliated, "But, for the record, I was never going to kill you."

"You and I both know it would have been the only way you were going to get to him."

"Darn it!" She was found out again, "Ok, I was going to kill you. But it was going to be quick and painless."

"Aubrey, I like you, and that's why I'm going to extend an offer to you that was not extended to The Slut. She's dead and I didn't even get to kill her. He did." Marty pointed to Morgan as he licked fallen cheese dust off his shirt and laughed at the antics of Selena Gomez. Aubrey was shocked as Marty continued, "Beat her to death with a waffle iron. Even after she was dead he just kept swinging away until her face looked like a Belgian waffle. Then he poured syrup on it and ate it."

"Her face?" Aubrey's jaw dropped.

"These people are crazy Aubrey. They don't mess around and they don't take kindly to people trying to kill one of their own. Go home before you end up on this table covered in BBQ sauce."

It was that moment that Sarah and Chuck came from their room, smiling with each other, talking about how delicious the waffles they had the other day were. They saw Aubrey and Sarah went into protection mode, pulling her gun from behind her back, and aiming it at the girl. Marty held her hand up to signal for Sarah to drop her gun. Sarah let her weapon rest at her side but didn't put it away.

Marty continued, "I saw on the Discovery Channel that, once you try human flesh you get hooked. No other meat satisfies you the same way. They've been looking for any excuse to kill someone just to eat them."

"Seriously?" Aubrey asked.

"Yesterday, they wanted to follow a little old lady home from the store. They said no one would miss her and she'd probably be aged to perfection." Aubrey gasped and looked at the other people in the room, disgusted.

"Please don't give them a reason to eat you Aubrey." Marty continued, looking at her friend with genuine concern.

"See you when you get home." Was all Marty could make out as Aubrey rushed to get out the door.

"What was that?" Chuck asked.

"That was Aubrey. Cunningly ruthless killer…but naïve as hell." Marty explained,

Later that day, Chuck found himself back at the Buy More sitting behind the Nerd Herd desk. Sarah and Marty had been walking around the store for hours, pretending to shop when Lester, not paying attention to where he was going, bumped into Marty.

"Whoa. Didn't see you there. You look nice. Excuse me." It came out in a rush and, just as quickly as his words spilled out, he was moving across the room to Jeff. As Lester whispered to him, Jeff's face froze and he casually glanced in her direction, then looked away quickly.

She could faintly hear Lester repeating, "Be cool, be cool, be cool." Jeff took a deep breath and attempted a saunter in her direction. Was he actually swinging his hips? When he finally reached her, he tried to act natural, examining a shelf of DVD's briefly.

"Oh, hello. I didn't see you there." Jeff said, finally acknowledging her.

"Been here all day." She explained still looking around the store.

"I see." Jeff played with the shelf in front of him, "Any particular reason why you've been here all day? Like, say, maybe trying to get someone's attention?"

"No. Just waiting for Chuck to be done so we can go to dinner."

"Is that your way of asking me out?" He asked, hopeful. Before she could say no, he answered, "Because I'd love to."

At that moment, she saw Chuck heading for the exit. Sarah followed behind him, reached out, and grabbed his arm to pull him back before he could make it to the door.

"Excuse me." She said to Jeff, already walking away from him.

"Pick me up at seven?" He called to her retreating form.

When she reached Chuck and Sarah, she caught their argument, "It's just a service call back to Mrs. Smithson's house. Her webcam isn't working."

"I'm not letting you go alone Chuck." Sarah replied.

"I would have been back before you even realized I was gone."

"You would have been dead before you realized you were in trouble."

"I thought we talked about this and you were going to start trusting me."

"You know what?" Sarah started angry but finished calm, "Go ahead. I trust you and I know you can take care of yourself."

"Really?" Chuck was surprised, "Ok. I'll be right back." He kissed her and left the store as Marty walked up behind Sarah.

"We're going to follow him?"

"Yep." Was Sarah's simple reply.

Chuck arrived at Mrs. Smithson's and knocked. Shortly after, she opened the door with a worried expression and stepped aside for him to enter.

"Everything alright Mrs-" He couldn't finish because, once she shut the door, he could see some one had been hiding behind it. Who that someone was had yet to come into focus as his eyes crossed, staring at the barrel of a rather large revolver.

"Good seeing you again Chuck." Mia stated. "It's hard to believe Marty let you out of her sight."

"It'll be easier to believe in a second." Chuck smiled just as he flashed, gaining the moves necessary to disarm his opponent.

He smacked her right hand, which was the one holding the gun with his left and, at the same time, used his right hand to hit the inside of her elbow. The result was her arm bending, pointing the gun away from him. His left hand then grabbed on to her right, bending it as well, causing the gun to point at her. His right hand pushed on the barrel slightly and, magically, the gun had twisted out of her grasp and into his. He was now holding it on her, trying to pretend he was willing to use it.

"Impressive." She smiled. This was going to be more fun than she originally anticipated, "You need to turn the safety off if you're going to use it though."

Chuck momentarily dropped his guard, confused, "It's a revolver, it doesn't have a-" He wasn't completely distracted but it was just enough to give her the second she needed to duck to the side and rush into Chuck, pushing the arm holding the gun away from her with one arm, and pressing her hand to his throat with the other, slamming him against the door. Mia began smacking his hand on the doorframe in an effort to get him to drop the gun. Just as he dropped it, he flashed again. He broke her hold on his neck, twisted her arm and swung her around, face first into the door, holding her against it with his whole body. She didn't have room to move but, she didn't need it. Thanks to her flexibility, she was able to point her knee out and bring her leg up high enough to slide it, painfully, down his shin. His grip loosened and he somehow managed to end up on the floor. They went back and forth, her gaining the upper hand, him flashing and getting it back, refusing to hit her, then her getting it back again. The whole process couldn't have taken longer than a two minutes. Mia ended up on her back, Chuck hovering over her with his fist drawn.

"I can't hit a girl." He let his arm relax.

"That makes this really easy for me then." She managed to reverse the positions resulting in her straddling him, her hands back on his throat, when she heard the sound of metal sliding against metal. Without moving, she knew Marty was behind her, swords positioned as scissors placed at back of her neck.

"Want a haircut?" Marty asked, "I'll just take a little off the top."

"You are…such a bitch." Mia stated, defeated.

"What is it with you and you're husband and the lame jokes?" Chuck asked.

"We have a lot in common. It's what makes us work." Marty replied.

Mia stood, swords still at her neck and slowly turned to see Sarah, adding insult to injury by aiming her own gun at her. Marty dropped her swords.

"What are you doing?" Chuck asked, getting off the ground and standing beside Sarah. "You're not going to kill her?"

Marty looked offended, "No, I'm not going to kill her. She's my friend."

"What's with this guy?" Mia asked.

"Apparently, some psycho who goes around giving death orders." Marty explained.

"But, you let me kill the other girl." Sarah stated in disbelief.

"Yeah. Her…not so much my friend."

Mia turned to Marty, "See you in a few weeks."

"We'll have a girls night." She replied excitedly.

"Fun!" And, that quickly, Mia was gone. The whole thing was very anti-climactic.

The team returned to the Bartowski home that night, Casey eying his new .44 Magnum excitedly. Marty and Sarah decided it was only fitting he be the one to get it to add to his growing collection. Just as they all sat at the table for dinner, there was a knock at the door.

Everyone assumed their positions as Chuck asked, "Who is it?"

"Your mother." Mary Bartowski replied from the other side of the door.

Chuck swung the door open, "Mom! You're back!" He rushed forward and hugged his mother, "Come on in. There's someone you need to meet."

Mary entered the home, hugging Sarah as she walked through, "Mary," Sarah started, "I want you to meet my sister, Marty."

Mary looked up and froze at the sight in front of her, "Martha." It wasn't a question so much as it was a statement.

Marty's face scrunched up, "Yeah, but don't let that get around. I have a rep to maintain."

"Sarah?" Mary asked as Sarah gave the woman her full attention, "What did you say your mother's maiden name was?"

"You never asked. It was Sloane."

Mary looked as though the wind had been ripped from her lungs, "Excuse me. I have to go." She turned and quickly left the home.

Chuck explained to Marty, "She kind of comes and goes from our lives without warning. It's a thing she does."

"Neat." Marty replied, not giving the interaction another thought.


	19. Chapter 19

_In addition to not owning Chuck, I also do not own The Care Bears Movie…if I had to pick one to own, I'd like to think it wouldn't be a touch choice but the four year old in me would like to beg to differ._

Marty was worrying a hole into her stomach. She was worried about Trevor because he should have been back by now and she was worried about Ben and The Twins because they hadn't made a move since Mia left. Neither was a situation of 'No news is good news.' because no news meant that 1) Her husband was probably dead somewhere and 2) Ben and The Twins had been watching them for days, learning their schedules and deciding when they were most vulnerable. Their planning meant things were going to be more difficult for Team Bartowski.

On the bright side, Chuck told her that Agent Graham had been spending most of his time in Castle daydreaming instead of investigating. No progress had been made in the murder cases and they only had one more week to go before Marty would be long gone. The team decided that, instead of her breaking up with him and hoping he would give up and crawl home crying, it was smarter for her to do it just before she left. That way, if he chose to stay and investigate, there'd be no way to find her. Who did he think he was investigating murders he was told to stay away from anyway?

It was early Saturday morning and she was sitting on the couch, petting McGruff's head as it rested on her lap (both of them thinking about Trevor), when Chuck came in and sat next to her.

"What's up Chuckles?"

He scrunched his face in disappointment, "Chuckles?"

"You prefer Schnook?"

"Have you been talking to your father?"

"Of course not. My father is a known criminal. Associating with him without turning him over to the authorities would be aiding and abetting a felon." She paused briefly, "If it makes you feel any better, he called Trevor Putz."

Chuck smiled and waited a few moments before he continued, "Can I ask you a few questions? Without you making any jokes?"

"Can we ask the wind not to blow?"

Chuck wasn't ecstatic with her reply but she was all he had for answers, "I'll take it." He hesitated, gathering his courage, before continuing in a rush, "What was Sarah like growing up? What did she do for fun? What was her favorite movie? Who did she have a crush on? Where did she-"

Marty cut him off, "That's more than a few Chuck. Plus, I think if Sam wanted you to know about her past, she'd of already told you those things."

Chuck was disappointed "Please, just give me something…I'll take the name of a childhood pet."

"We never had pets growing up." Marty said quickly, "We couldn't have anything that might be left behind if we had to get up and go suddenly." She felt for the guy, "I'll tell you what, I won't answer any questions about Sam growing up, but you can ask me about my childhood."

He seemed disappointed until he got where she was going, "Ok." He said hopefully, "Say Marty…Where did you grow up?"

"Funny you should ask. We actually started out in a real house." She looked off, trying to remember, "But I was so young, and we moved around so much, I couldn't even tell you what state it was in. For some reason," She was still stuck, not knowing all the details, "…dad's con job became our primary source of income and we just never stayed in one place very long after that."

Chuck thought about another question, "Your mom. Tell me about your mom."

"Well, what I remember of her…she was smart, funny, beautiful. Sam looks just like her. Blonde hair, blue eyes, big smile. Her laugh was contagious. It would just fill up the room and affect everyone else in it. You already know she used to sing to us during baths…" Chuck and Marty both looked uncomfortable for a second, "…and she told us stories every night before we went to bed."

"What happened to her?"

"She left us." It wasn't Marty who replied. She and Chuck turned to see Sarah behind them, "You got me on a technicality."

Chuck stood quickly, to defend his actions, "You have to understand, I just wanted to know where you came from."

Sarah walked around to the front of the couch and sat next to her sister, "Then ask me."

"Really?" He was surprised she was finally willing to share some information with him. He sat, excited, "What did your mom do? Did she have a job?"

Sarah turned the question over to Marty, "Yeah, she used to work in some big office building doing…something…I don't know. But, when Sam was out helping dad with his con job's, she took me in with her. They had some kind of office daycare."

"Huh. I went to work with my mom sometimes too. I mean, back when she had that dry spell of not being a field agent." He got back on track, "Why did she leave?"

Sarah looked at her sister then back to Chuck, "We don't know. She always seemed so happy with us then, one day, she was gone. We think maybe she and dad fought more than they let on."

"Do you ever hear from her?"

"For a little while, when we were still in school. But, since I joined the CIA, no."

Chuck realized this was a touchy subject so he changed it, "Favorite movie growing up?"

Both girls laughed and Sarah answered, "The Princess Bride."

"Seriously?" It was so simple. So…normal.

Marty explained, "She used to make me dress up in all black and call her Buttercup. Then she kept pushing me down this huge hill because, I was so pre-occupied with falling that I'd always forget to say, 'Aaaaas yooooou wiiiiiiiish.' So I'd have to climb all the way back up just for her to push me right back down. It only stopped because she broke my arm."

"You broke your arm. It wasn't my fault that you didn't know the proper way to tumble down a hill." Sarah defended.

Marty laughed, "Mom and Dad were so mad."

Chuck was smiling, knowing he was finally getting somewhere, "Favorite music group?"

Sarah's cheeks turned bright red, "Didn't have one."

"OH!" Marty quickly shot her gaze to her sister, "Don't lie about NKOTB. She used to blare 'Please Don't Go Girl' constantly. The only break I got from it was when she had to push rewind on her Teddy Ruxspin." Chuck laughed.

"I can't believe you told him that." Sarah buried her face in her hands.

Marty answered sarcastically, "Yeah, well, no one keeps a secret like Secret Bear."

Chuck stopped laughing and turned serious, "What did you just say?"

"You're not even embarrassed about that, are you?" Sarah asked Marty in disbelief.

"Hell no!" Marty answered, "Everything I need to know in life I learned from The Care Bears Movie and I don't even remember ever watching it. But, I could sit down and quote it word for word. 'As long as Care-A-Lot is safe'-"

"So is the world below it." Chuck finished, not having as much fun with the memory as Marty.

"Oh, sweetie. Please don't tell me you watched that movie." Sarah laughed.

"I didn't think I ever had."

"We're calling for the Loyal Hearts where ever they may be!" Marty started, excited.

Chuck finished without hesitation, "We're calling for the Proud Hearts to come and follow me." He was shocked, "God!" He dropped his face into his hands, "How do I know that?"

"That's the magic of the Care Bears Chuckles. They sneak into your heart and let the love shine out. We should take some LSD and watch it." Marty suggested.

"Marty." Sarah warned.

"I'm joking…about watching it." Sarah just glared at her sister, "Where did your sense of humor go Sam?"

Morgan entered the room and Chuck turned to him, "Hey. Do you remember us ever watching The Care Bears Movie."

Morgan laughed, "Is this some kind of loser test? Because I'm not even that bad." He continued laughing and left the house.

"A loser for watching it? What does that make Chuck for quoting it?" Marty said as she and Sarah laughed.

Chuck got up, "Yeah, yeah. I'm going to go take a shower…you two feel free to keep making jokes at my expense."

"Hey Chuckles?" He turned to see what Marty wanted, "Don't worry about falling-" She pointed at him, to signify it was his turn.

"Worry about the lion instead." He finished resulting in the two women laughing even harder as he walked away to the bathroom, "Hilarious." That was the last thing they heard before the bathroom door slammed shut.

They were still laughing when the door opened, and Morgan walked back in with his hands in the air and a terrified expression on his face, "Human shield, human shield. Shoot through me to get to him."

Marty and Sarah didn't get it until Mike…or Ike…she could never tell the two apart, appeared behind Morgan, gun in his back, "Hey Marty." The Twin greeted with a head nod.

Chuck turned the water on in the shower to let it warm up and went to the sink to brush his teeth. Once he was done, he stripped down and turned back to the shower, bumping into a very tall, sturdy object. He looked up and came eye to eye with The Other Twin.

Back in the living room, Morgan was still insisting to Marty and Sarah that one of them had to shoot through him to get to the man using him as a shield.

"Morgan, stop! We're not going to shoot you!" Was Sarah's reply. She had pulled her gun from her waistline and was aiming it at The Twin while Marty held one of her swords.

A relieved Morgan replied, "Thank goodness because I was just trying to be selfless but I really don't want to die. I'm manager of a Buy More, I just got engaged," He showed The Twin his ring, "And I'm thisclose to beating Halo: Reach on Mythic. I really have too much to live for now."

"Where's Mike?" Marty asked as she noticed McGruff a few feet away from them.

The offended twin replied, "I'm Mike."

"No you're not. Mike's the good looking one. Where is he?"

Sarah had a startling realization, "Chuck."

Chuck stared up at The Other Twin, nervous, "Hello there. Would you mind terribly if I put my pants, or at least underwear, back on? I'm kind of feeling a little vulnerable here with everything just hanging out." He slowly reached down for his pants and The Other Twin raised his assault rifle to Chuck's face, "Ok, no pants." He put his hands up, feigning surrender just as he flashed and smiled.

Back in the living room, McGruff was getting closer to The Twin as Marty moved closer to Sarah.

"Lose your husband again Marty?" He asked, trying to be funny.

"Don't be so callous Mike-Ike. That comment might be the difference between you living and dying." She replied.

"Living and dying? As far as I can tell, I have the upper hand."

Before Marty could reply, she looked past The Twin, her arm holding the sword relaxed and a relieved smile lit up her face, "Trevor."

Later that night, when Sarah thought back to the moment, even she had to admit it was very convincing. Which is why The Twin briefly dropped his guard and turned his head only slightly to the right. That movement was all it took for McGruff to jump forward, pushing Morgan out of the way, the same time Marty shoved Sarah aside. In the same moment she threw her sword at him, with as much force as she could, he opened fire. She dropped to the ground and the shooting didn't last long before the sword lodged itself into the shoulder of the arm holding the gun, forced him back, and pinned him against the wall. His arm fell painfully at his side.

Morgan was under McGruff, staring up at him in awe, "You saved my life. Thank you." McGruff simply licked his face then turned to The Twin, who was trying to fight through the pain and aim his weapon at an unconcerned Marty. McGruff grabbed his wrist in his mouth and bit down until the weapon fell to the ground.

Chuck had to admit, Mia was a little hard to handle, but only because he refused to hit a woman and, if she hadn't drugged him first, he wouldn't have had a problem with The Slut either…he even felt ungentlemanly for referring to her by that name but it was all he knew. Once he got over the discomfort in knowing he was completely naked, Chuck had no problem grabbing The Other Twins gun, turning sideways, and pulling it forward just to push it back, slamming the butt of the stock into The Other Twins face. From there, he continued to use the rifle as a short staff, blocking any attack thrown at him, and striking The Other Twin mercilessly. By the time Sarah urgently swung the bathroom door open, a still naked Chuck was standing over The Other Twin, who was hog tied with several towels.

Chuck looked up and saw Sarah, then smiled, "The Elite? Not so much."

An embarrassed Sarah stared at her fiancé in shock, "What happened to your clothes?" Was her reply as Marty glanced in, over her shoulder, holding the back of The Twins shirt with one hand and her sword to his neck with the other.

She made a 'not bad' face then nudged her sister, "Good for you." Chuck quickly pulled his clothes on as Marty pushed The Twin into the bathroom with his brother.

"Owen's here!" Morgan called from the living room.

Marty pushed Sarah and Chuck out of the room, "I'll handle them, go stall him!"

"What's he doing here so early?" Sarah asked.

"I'm just that good Sam. He can't stay away." Marty replied, "Make sure he doesn't have his letterman jacket or a class ring to give me."

Chuck and Sarah had been sitting uncomfortably in the living room with Owen for several minutes since they left the bathroom. From what they had seen so far, they could only assume Marty was setting up a spa day with The Twins before letting them go.

"She's just in the bathroom. She should be out here any minute." Sarah explained.

"Spastic colon." Chuck felt the need to elaborate, "Runs in the family."

They finally heard the toilet flush and mentally noted it was a nice touch. The door opened and Marty appeared in the living room, "Whew. I had to struggle through that one. I wanted to name it and send it to college in eighteen years."

Chuck, Sarah, and Owen all looked disgusted as Marty defended, "What? We all do it."

"Yes, we're just not all as comfortable talking about it as you are." Sarah replied.

Owen stood and hugged her and she reciprocated with as much enthusiasm as she could manage. He pulled back and leaned in for a kiss just as the door opened. Marty turned away from his approaching lips in time to see Trevor enter the home. She moved away from Owen, shot across the room and jumped into her husband's arms, wrapping her legs around his waist as both exhaled in relief.

It was a beautiful moment until Chuck realized, as far as Agent Graham knew, they were brother and sister, "They're a very close family." He explained then motioned with his eyes for Sarah to join Trevor and Marty. She walked over quickly, and awkwardly put her arms around the couple then jumped up, wrapping her own legs around them.


	20. Chapter 20

It took most of the morning to get rid of Owen. For every excuse they used to push him out the door, he came back with a reason to stay. It wasn't until Marty took another visit to the bathroom, complete with sound effects, that he felt uncomfortable enough to leave, asking the others to have her call him. As soon as he was out the door, Marty emerged from the bathroom and was back in Trevor's arms, "What the hell took you so long?"

"It seems Alonzo has upped his security measures. He's scared of someone and, whoever it is, it's convinced him to keep his mouth shut."

"Where is he now?" Chuck asked.

Trevor replied, "Follow me."

He led them out of the apartment and to the street where a line of cars was parked. Chuck and Sarah stopped at a red BMW Z4 convertible assuming it was Trevor's. They were surprised to see him continue to walk, past it, to a silver Ford Fusion hybrid.

"That's it? That's your car?" Chuck was surprised that this was the first person in their business to not drive a sports car. Well, besides Casey in the Crown Vic. But that was different, the Crown Vic was basically an armored tank and Casey was always the type to choose function over form.

"What?" Trevor asked defensively, "It gets forty one miles to the gallon."

"It just doesn't look very fast." Chuck continued to be baffled.

"It has a spoiler." Trevor defended, "Besides, you can't fit a body in that trunk." He gestured to the BMW.

"If it were in pieces you could." Marty suggested.

"Well, yeah." Trevor agreed, "I could fit a few in there if they were in pieces. I just figured you wanted him alive." He opened the trunk of his car to reveal Alonzo, tied up and gagged with several cuts and bruises on his face. He simply looked up at the group, recognizing Marty and the man with the multi-million dollar price on his head, then rolled over on his side, away from them, "Like I said, he's not talking."

Chuck looked like he had an idea then slammed the trunk shut. All Alonzo heard was mumbling followed by the car moving.

He wasn't sure where he was when he finally woke up or how long he'd been asleep. All he remembered was that the car stopped, Trevor opened the trunk, then he found himself too tired to keep his eyes open. Next thing he knew, he woke up tied to a chair in a small room with a mirror straight in front of him. He wasn't stupid, he knew they were watching him from the other side so he gave them his best smile and spit across the room.

"Charming." Sarah stated as she and Marty watched him.

Shortly after his outburst, the women entered, notebooks in hand, leaving the door open behind them, and sat across from Alonzo. Sarah placed her gun on the table.

"What? You think that gun scares me?" He laughed. "I don't care what you do to me. It's nothing compared to what he'd do if I talked."

"So…" Marty looked down at her notebook, "It's a he. I'm just going to jot that down. H-E." She looked up at him and smiled, "What else?"

"Marty. Where are your manners?" Sarah asked.

"You're right." She turned back to Alonzo, "Can we get you anything to make your stay more pleasurable? Something to drink? Something to eat? I have granola bars, juice boxes, graham crackers, Scooby Doo fruit snacks-" Her list was cut short by the loud, painful screaming of a man coming from the next room. As soon as it ended, she continued, "Those little orange fish the kids like so much, ants on a log…"

There was another loud scream followed by a man pleading, "What do you want from me? Oh God! Oh God! Someone help me! He's crazy!" And another scream followed by…was that sobbing?

"Alonzo." The man looked up to see Sarah staring at him, "Did you want anything?" He simply shook his head, nervous.

He was startled when the million dollar man popped his head into the room, "Hey ladies." He smiled in a very charming manner, "Has either one of you seen my sawzall?" He let his whole body appear in the doorway. His shirt and hands were covered in blood. Alonzo glanced at the women and they appeared to be terrified.

"No!" Was Marty's immediate response.

"No sir." Sarah answered, not making eye contact with him.

"Hm." Chuck looked like he was trying to remember where he had it last, "Oh well, I'll find something else."

As soon as he left the room, both women exhaled in relief and turned to Alonzo, "We hid it." Sarah explained.

"Put a saw in that man's hands and he just goes crazy." Marty continued.

The sound of a power tool being turned on echoed off the walls and the screaming continued, louder and more frantic. Sarah turned to Marty, "Guess we didn't hide it well enough."

"No." Marty listened more carefully, "That's not the sawzall. I believe that's his drill. I hate it when he uses the drill. Makes things messier."

Sarah explained to Alonzo, "See, instead of one straight cut, what he does instead is make a bunch of holes, close together, in a line. Then he takes his hammer and starts whacking away at whatever it is he's trying to cut off until what's left of the flesh and bone just gives way."

The drilling stopped and the sound of a hammer hitting flesh repeatedly, accompanied by screams and crying followed, "Please…Please…What do you want? Ask me anything! I'll do it."

"Bad call hiding his saw." Marty admitted, "Oh, well. So, Alonzo. You said we're dealing with a he." She lifted her notebook and showed that's what she had written so far, "Are there any other details you'd care to share?"

The screaming stopped and Chuck appeared outside their door, yelling down the hallway, "Trevor! Come get this body!" He then turned back to where he came from as Trevor rushed past their room and, shortly after, started to cross back, moving slowly and dragging the lifeless body of a bloody, armless man by the shoulders…little did Alonzo know, it was Morgan Grimes.

"Can you move it a little quicker please? I have dinner reservations." They heard Chuck say.

"Sorry boss. He'd be easier to move if he still had arms." Trevor struggled to move the body.

"Well, here you go." Chuck replied and, one followed by the other, two arms went flying through the hallway, past their doorway, "Does that make it easier for you?"

Sarah leaned toward Alonzo, "You want to know the scariest part?" He stared at her, "That guy really didn't know anything. We found him at the grocery store. Chuck just wanted someone to warm up on."

"Bring me the other one!" They heard him call.

Alonzo was relieved when neither woman moved and Trevor pushed a large terrified man, with his hands tied behind his back, past their doorway.

"You can't do this to me! Don't make me go in there with him! Please, help!" John Casey struggled and pleaded with the women as Trevor managed to get him to his destination. The door to Chuck's room slammed shut and Trevor reappeared in their doorway, "I'm going to get a mop to wipe up all this blood before someone slips and really gets hurt."

"D-does he know anything?" Alonzo asked, trembling.

"Trevor?" Marty knew what he was asking but she liked playing with him.

"No. The other one. Does he have anything to do with this?"

"No idea. We showed up for work today and he was here." Sarah answered.

"You know," Marty started, looking like she was trying to put her finger on something, "I think he was the guy who delivered our pizza last night."

Sarah looked as though she was thinking, "I think you're right." She snapped her fingers like she had just remembered something, "He forgot the sodas."

"That's right! He'll get what's coming to him then." Marty told Alonzo just as the screaming started back up again. "So, where were we?"

"It was a guy." Alonzo said panicked, "I don't know his name but I could point him out if I saw him."

"Not good enough." Sarah stood as another scream filled the room.

"No! African American, tall, fit, pretty eyes, about your age." He continued with his verbal diarrhea while the screams were getting louder.

"My age or her age?" Marty asked.

"What?" He replied, frantic, "You're the same age, aren't you?"

"She's older." Marty replied, offended.

"Only slightly." Sarah added.

"You know what? I've had enough of him. I say we turn him over to Chuck." Marty stood.

"Please don't…please…I'm sorry. Now that you mention it, you do look much younger."

"Excuse me?" Now Sarah was offended, "You're right. We got all we're going to get from him. Trevor!" She called. He immediately appeared in the doorway, "This one's next in line."

"Wait." Marty raised her hand and waved Trevor away. He looked insulted but left. Marty looked suspiciously at Sarah, "African American, tall, fit, pretty eyes, about our age."

Sarah got where she was going, "Can't be." They both sat simultaneously, looking at Alonzo and Marty pulled her cell phone out and scrolled to a picture of her with Owen, "This guy?" She held up her phone to show Alonzo.

He leaned closer and examined the picture, "No."

"You sure?" Sarah asked, threateningly. He was distracted by more screaming so Sarah threw her notebook at him. He broke his trance and looked at her, "Yes. I'm very sure. Not him."

"Darn it anyway. I thought we had something there." She turned to Sarah, a hint of laughter in her voice, "How crazy would that have been?"

"You don't know anything else?" Sarah asked.

"No. I swear." Alonzo heard the drill running again and started to cry as the women heard a trickling of liquid hitting the floor.

"I'm not cleaning that up." Sarah stated as she stood and left the room.

Marty called, "Trevor!" She wasn't going to clean it up either.

It was late when the group left Castle through the Buy More. Chuck had his arm wrapped around Sarah's shoulders as she leaned into him and Morgan carried the two fake arms, laughing as he used them to screw with Casey. They decided to let Alonzo sit in a cell overnight while he thought about the consequences of being involved in such a dangerous business. When they reached the empty parking lot, several cars raced up to them and came to a screeching halt. Men and women poured out of the vehicles, Casey counted at least fifteen total. One final car door opened and Ben stepped out, mustache gone. The next thing Chuck noticed was Marty's swords in her hands.

'_Where the hell does she keep pulling those from_.' He wondered.


	21. Chapter 21

"Hey Marty." Ben smiled shyly, "Trevor." His tone hardened.

"There's something different about you Ben." She replied.

He lit up, glad she noticed, "I shaved my mustache."

"You did, didn't you? It looks good."

"I'm standing right here." Trevor reminded her, "Is flirting with him for the upper hand really worth irritating your husband?"

"I haven't decided yet." She admitted, "Let me see how far it gets us, then I'll let you know." Trevor just stared at her, "Fine." She turned back to Ben, "What's with all the muscle?"

Ben looked down at his body, "It's no more than I had before you left."

"Why do you have so many people with you?" Trevor asked, frustrated.

"Well, I got to thinking, our teams aren't exactly even. See, there's been five of you going up against one of us…"

Morgan looked down the line of Team Bartowski and counted, one, two, three, four, five…six. He counted a few more times, just to be sure, but the final result was always six.

"…and it hasn't turned out well for anyone, especially not Heather." Ben continued.

Everyone but Marty and Trevor looked confused so Marty explained, "The Slut." Their confusion turned to realization.

"Now, I'm all for a challenge but those aren't very good odds for me. Here we were, all thinking we were coming after some perfectly defenseless guy who was protected just by you. Come to find out, he's more than capable of protecting himself."

"Thanks Ben." Chuck said, not sure why he was smiling at the guy trying to kill him.

"Oh! Who told you? It was The Twins, wasn't it?" Marty acted like the jig was up, "Those no good, dirty, Xeroxed bastards!"

"Then you throw in the fact that you've got Trevor, your sister works for the CIA, and on top of it all, you've got the guy with all the guns."

Casey grunted as Morgan stood waiting, then cleared his throat in an effort to be noticed. When he wasn't acknowledged as part of the team, he had to admit, it hurt a little bit.

"I figured, the price on his head was high enough, that I could afford to bring in some help. So, I studied all of you and, based off my findings, I was able to determine the amount of opponents necessary to distract the four of you while I cut your friend's head off. Very sorry about having to do that, by the way." He apologized to Chuck.

"No biggie." Chuck replied.

Casey had done a final count and saw that there were sixteen people in addition to Ben. If Morgan helps, that maybe leaves…well…sixteen people in addition to Ben. Where did Morgan go, anyway?

Casey turned to Chuck, "If you take care of the him, it leaves four for each of us."

"Not exactly." Ben explained as his team members broke off into groups. One group consisted of five people, two groups had four, and the final group had three. Each one stood in front of a member of Chuck's team.

"Hey!" Casey called, offended, "Why does everyone else get more than me?" He gestured to the others, Marty facing the group of five while he only faced three, leaving the groups of four for Sarah and Trevor.

"Because, you rely too heavily on brute force and that slows you down. I assure you, I ran the numbers several times and the most balanced outcome was always centered around this configuration. Not factoring in any weapons-"

"Wait one second." Casey started, "You mean to tell me, none of them have guns?"

"Well, no. I wanted everyone to be evenly matched. A truly fair fight."

Casey pulled out one of his Desert Eagles, which was his new 'Don't Leave Home Without It' weapon and went down the line, shooting seven members of Ben's team… to wound, not to kill. He wanted to be fair, after all.

"How bout that? Seven instead of three. Looks like I just exceeded your expectations for me." Casey replied smugly, putting his gun away.

Ben's face fell, "That's not fa-" He stopped speaking and began swaying, then stumbled to the side to reveal Morgan, behind him, holding a tranquilizer gun. The tranquilizer wasn't enough to knock Ben out but it did slow him down considerably. Surprisingly, Morgan continued to attack Ben. Well, attempted to attack Ben, Everyone watched, unable to look away as the sloth fought the spider monkey that just kept swinging it's arms around, wildly, hoping to land a punch. Casey was proud of Morgan for stepping up and getting involved but he was also slightly embarrassed of the fact that, despite being hindered, he still hadn't landed a punch on Ben. When it looked like Morgan was winding up for a big blow, Casey emptied a magazine of tranqs into Ben. Morgan swung and missed but seconds later, Ben fell to the ground.

He was shocked, "I did it! I knocked him out! Geez, I must be pumped up with adrenaline because it didn't even feel like I hit him." He then stood over Ben, "Allow me to introduce myself. The name is Grimes…Morgan Grimes. Sixth member of Team Bartowski and the guy who just kicked your ass."

And then there were nine. For a moment, they stood, not sure whether or not they should run or attack. Marty almost had them convinced they should go home until one of them reminded the others that Chuck was still worth a considerable amount of money and they had Team Bartowski outnumbered.

Morgan let a cocky grin form, "I'll handle this." He tried to step forward to The Group of Nine but Chuck grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him back.

Marty turned to Trevor and held her hand up to signify she wanted to Paper, Rock, Scissors him to decide who went after them. In the end, she won with rock to Trevor's scissors.

"But you always choose paper."

"Yeah. I do it on purpose. I was saving up for something I actually wanted to win." She smiled, pulled him in for a kiss, then turned to Sarah, "Care to join me?"

Sarah smiled, "Don't mind if I do." She turned to Chuck, "I'll be right back."

"I'll be right here." He replied. Trevor walked over to him as Sarah stood next to her sister.

The Group of Nine stood baffled at the fact that, of the six people they were facing, the two women were sent out. What was more confusing was the fact that one of the women was going through a stretch routine.

"Just one second." Marty said as she ran in place, "I'm getting to that age where, if I don't warm up first, things hurt in the morning. You know how it is Sam, you've been there for a while now." Sarah just smiled at her sister's antics and waited for her to finish.

Chuck turned to Trevor, "So…do you guys have any favorite vacation spots?"

Finally, Marty finished with some hip circles, danced on the balls of her feet over to Sarah and said, "Are you guys done screwing around or what? I don't have all night." The women stepped forward.

The Group of Nine didn't know what to make of them so they backed up reflexively. One man, who finally refused to be intimidated by two women, lunged forward toward Marty just to fly back into the group. It happened so quickly, Chuck wasn't sure she had actually touched him. Was Casey backing her up with the tranq gun? He turned and looked at him as he raised his empty hands and shrugged.

That one man being knocked down was what caused the rest of the group to charge at the women all at once. Sarah glanced at her sister throughout the battle and had never seen anything like it. Her movements were quick, like she knew what defense to use before an attack was even attempted, like her body would strike without consulting her brain first, like she had been programmed to go into fight mode and not come out of it until the threat was no longer present…almost like being an intersect. Had she not known what it looked like when Chuck flashed, she would have been more suspicious of her sister's abilities. But these movements were not performed with the use of a super computer stuck inside her brain. They were naturally occurring.

The women continued their dance, changing partners every few seconds, occasionally teaming up, while Chuck continued his small talk with Trevor, "No, a lot of people would think paprika but cayenne pepper is the way to go." They stepped apart from one another as a body was sent flying between them.

"I'm more of an Old Bay man myself." Trevor replied, "We put it on everything."

"I never thought of that." Chuck seemed enlightened by Trevor's suggestion, "I'll have to give it a try."

As soon as he collected himself, the man went charging back in, getting ready to pass back through Chuck and Trevor. Without breaking from their conversation, Chuck stuck out his foot and tripped the man.

"We don't need your help." Sarah called.

"Of course you don't dear." Chuck replied then turned to Trevor, frustrated, "She always wants to do everything herself."

Trevor shared the look, "I know. Marty too. She is so stubborn!"

"It must be genetic."

There were only two men and one woman left, as it was, they were bruised and bleeding, backing up as the women approached them. The other six members of the group had either ran away or laid on the ground unconscious.

"I'll take two, you take one." Marty said.

Sarah dropped her fists and turned to her sister, irritated, "Why do you get two?"

"Because." She mirrored Sarah's movement.

"That's not an answer. You already took the broken nose guy from me."

"I was helping you."

"Helping me? I had it under control."

"Really, because to me, it looked like you were on the ground and he had just kicked you in the ribs."

"I was resting."

"Ok, fine. You take two, I'll take one. But one of your two is going to be the scrawny guy who smells like a deli."

"Fine!" The turned back in their fighting stances to see the final three had left. Disappointed, both dropped their arms and turned to the rest of the team, proud of their accomplishment and looking for praise. What they saw instead was Chuck and Trevor staring at their cell phones and Casey and Morgan playing the hand slap game. Morgan obviously losing, the backs of his hands bright red. Casey seemed to be enjoying himself.

Sarah and Marty walked up to Trevor and Chuck.

"I just sent the friend request." Chuck said.

"One second…there it is. I just accepted it." Trevor replied.

The men looked up to see their significant others, "Trevor just friended me." Chuck smiled.

"Help us move Ben." Marty directed, not caring what they had been doing since the men obviously didn't care what they had just done.

Chuck and Trevor walked over to Ben and grabbed a limb, waiting for Sarah and Marty to join them. When they didn't, Chuck continued, "Oh. By help us, you meant for us to move him." He said. "That makes more sense." As they lifted the sleeping man, Chuck asked, "So, when he was talking about studying all of us, running the numbers, evaluating outcomes…Was he serious?"

"Yeah. Ben's the team strategist, super smart. He was a child prodigy in math or something." Marty replied.

They tossed the body carelessly into Trevor's trunk, "And when they first got here and he suggested you were in the wrong house when you found another woman in your bed…" Chuck began to ask.

"That was just him listing one of the hundreds of potential explanations for the situation he had running through his head." Trevor replied.

"But, earlier, when you asked about the muscle and he checked himself out…" Chuck was not convinced Ben was a genius.

"Downside of being so smart. He takes everything literally." Marty explained.

When they finally got home, it was late and everyone was tired. Ben was left in the trunk, no one wanting to carry him into the apartment. Marty explained that he'd wake up and figure out how to get out of the trunk if they left a rubber band, a pack of gum, and a recent newspaper. No one was sure why it had to be a recent newspaper but, after finding out Ben was a super genius, none of them really questioned anything anymore. They entered the home to see Mary Bartowski sitting on the couch with another woman. Mary stood when the group entered. Chuck was the first through the door and was surprised to see her waiting for them.

"Mom? What's going on?" Chuck asked.

The other woman looked up and stood, a hopeful gleam in her eyes.

Chuck continued, "Who's your friend?" He looked over his shoulder to see Sarah and Marty both jaws unhinged, staring at the blonde hair…blue eyed…beautiful older woman. Oh.


	22. Chapter 22

_**Thanks for the reviews. Hope everyone continues to enjoy the story and I don't lose anyone here. Sorry for the delay…I lost my attention span for a little while.**_

"Mom." One word, spoken by two women, at the same time, with two different emotions behind it. For Marty, the word held relief for her mother's safety, and hope for a future that had her in it. For Sarah, it held anger and resentment. Marty tried to step forward, toward her, but Sarah grabbed her hand and held her back. She was always so quick to forgive and forget. Even when they were kids.

Sarah was not as forgiving, "You left us."

"Samantha, I can explain." Allison Sloane defended.

"Why don't we give them a few minutes." Chuck suggested, realizing everyone else in the room was watching the interaction.

"No." Mary explained, "This involves you too Chuck."

"These ladies need time to work things out on their own. Just because Sarah and I are getting married-"

Allison's gaze on her daughters was broken when she interrupted him, "That's not what she meant." She looked back to the girls, "Please, sit and listen to what I have to say."

Sarah kept her hold on her sister's hand and pulled her past their mother, Marty smiling at the woman as they moved to the living room couch. They sat close together and waited.

Allison looked to Chuck and gestured to the couch, "Please."

He glanced at Mary and she nodded, telling him he should join them. He kept his eyes on Allison and sat next to Sarah. Trevor sat on the arm of the couch, next to Marty and Casey and Morgan sat at the dining room table. Not in the middle of things but close enough that they could listen in on what was going on. Mary and Allison stood in front of the couch.

After receiving a reassuring nod from Mary, Allison began, "First off, I want to start by saying I'm so very sorry. I never wanted for any of this to have happened."

Sarah's anger grew, "Sorry doesn't get us back the past twenty years, does it?"

Allison looked down, ashamed, "No. It doesn't."

"Sam." Marty wanted to hear what the woman had to say.

Sarah's expression softened when she looked into her sister's pleading eyes, "Fine."

Allison nodded, "It all started when Martha was two."

Morgan laughed and mumbled to himself, "Martha." Trevor winced knowing Morgan was in trouble and Marty stood quickly, swords in her hands, and glared at him. Where did she keep pulling them from? It was a question everyone asked themselves every time they saw her with them.

"Is there something funny about my name?" Her eyes narrowed.

"No." Morgan tried to swallow the nervous lump forming in his throat, "It's a great name…lots of very important women share that name."

"Like?" Marty asked, putting more pressure on him.

"Like…Martha…Martha Stewart." He was content to stop there.

"Who else? You said lots of women." She dared him to continue.

He thought very hard before adding, "There's…Martha Washington, wife of George and the first first lady, very important woman…Martha Plimpton of The Goonies."

Chuck couldn't control the urge, "It's OK, you're a Goonie and Goonies always make mistakes…" Sarah gave him a strange look as he slapped his face into his hands for another movie quote spilling out of his mouth, uncontrollably. At least it wasn't from The Care Bear Movie this time.

Marty finished for him, still staring at Morgan, "Just don't make any more." She and Chuck both shook their heads to free themselves of a memory at the same time. Marty turned back around and sat as everyone turned to Allison and Mary for an explanation.

"Yes. I'll get to that part in a moment." Allison responded, "When Martha was two, our nanny quit because she was…a handful. Your father was already taking you out on his con jobs and I refused to let him use both of you."

"If you didn't like what dad was doing, then why did you let him take me?" Sarah asked.

"Cause she liked me more." Marty shot in with a wink to her mother.

"Martha." Allison warned and continued speaking to Sarah, "When you were born, Jack and I decided that he would be a stay at home dad. What I didn't know, was that when I was at work, he was taking you out on jobs with him. By the time I found out what was going on, it was just before Martha was born and I tried to keep you from going with him Samantha. You know where that got us? You snuck out on the nanny and went missing for an entire day trying to find him. When we finally found you, I decided it was safer for you to stay with him than it was to risk you running off like that again."

"Walker had daddy issues. Imagine that." Casey threw in from his seat at the table.

"As I was saying, poor old Mrs. Adler couldn't handle Martha and it was impossible to find someone else to watch her so, I took her to work with me. The office had just opened a day care center and I thought she'd be able to play with other children and burn off her excess energy. Besides, if a daycare operated by the CIA, couldn't handle your sister, who could?"

Sarah was shocked, "You were an agent?"

"No. I was an analyst." Allison explained, "Until I found out what they were doing."

"What who was doing?" Chuck asked.

"The CIA is always looking to create an army of super agents and they've tried everything to do so. Nothing is confirmed but everyone's heard the rumors. From a training camp that was so intense it either killed the participants or put them in a mental facility, to attempts at genetic modification, which held even more disastrous results."

"Like growing a third nipple disastrous or uncontrollable rage, that makes you get spit in the corner of your mouth you're so mad, disastrous?" Sarah, Chuck, and Trevor all looked at Marty, "What?"

Allison ignored her daughter, "Then there's the rumor of the human computer." Allison looked directly at Chuck.

"Rumor? Are you sure it wasn't in the newsletter? Because a lot of people seem to know about the intersect." Chuck stated, irritated.

Allison continued, "In the past, when everything else had failed, a behavioral scientist by the name of Nicholas Spinner realized that the key to building better agents wasn't changing the ones they already had but starting from scratch."

"Like straight out of high school?" Sarah could see how that made sense. She didn't like bragging but she knew what she was capable of and she had been recruited right out of school.

"More like straight out of diapers." Mary corrected, "Hence the daycare."

"You mean to tell me, they were doing experiments on Marty when she was two?" Trevor was as angry as Sarah who was once again adding people to her list.

"It would explain a lot." Marty, however, was not taking it as seriously.

"Not just Marty." Mary responded and looked directly at Chuck. His eyes widened as she continued, "When Ellie was born, I stopped being a field agent and took a desk job. We always did daycare with the two of you but, just after she started school, the office began offering childcare. I thought it was perfect since it would keep you close and it was so convenient."

"Let me get this straight…" Casey found the whole situation hard to believe, "You're saying Bartowski and…Hell, I don't even know your last name…" He gestured to Marty,

"Spencer." Trevor added.

Casey continued, obviously not caring what her last name was, "Used to play in the sandbox together?"

"If by sandbox you mean being brainwashed by the United States government then, yes, they used to play in the sand box together." Mary answered.

"I'm sorry. Did you just say brainwashed?" Chuck asked.

Allison stared at her youngest daughter, "From the moment you were dropped off, until the time you were picked up, you watched movies filled with subliminal messages. Which explains your overwhelming urge to recite lines from them. They were all you were subjected to for so long…Battle strategy, self defense, marksmanship, fear and pain suppression techniques, foreign languages, patriotism, just a few of the things that were drilled into you all day…everyday."

Marty found a less important problem with the information, "So, when you picked us up and we told you we just watched movies all day, you didn't stop to think that, at the very least, they weren't promoting the healthiest learning environment? TV rots brains!"

"That's not how it worked Martha. In the last hour, the messages started telling you what to say when asked what you had done or learned that day, which is why they had a very strict drop off and pick up schedule. If you were running late for drop off or wanted to pick your child up early, they required you to call an hour in advance. We were all accustomed to such strict policies and didn't think anything of it considering who employed us."

"How do you even know any of this?" Sarah questioned Mary and Allison.

Her mother looked down, ashamed, "Your father and I were fighting a lot…mostly about him using you for…work." Allison struggled with the word, knowing it wasn't the right one to use, but not thinking of a better way to describe it. "I used to think about taking you girls and leaving him on a weekly basis…I just wanted to go down and take a quick peak at your sister to remind me of why I stayed with him. That's all it was going to be…I didn't think I needed to call first for that." Allison took a moment to collect herself, "When I got down there, no one was where they normally were but I could hear a movie playing in another room. I was just going to glance in…just for a second…but, what I saw…all the children were hooked up to computers and they stared at the movie, not even blinking. I didn't know what to do."

"You did the right thing." Mary comforted.

"Which was?" Sarah asked.

"I backed out of the room, grabbed one of the daily sign in sheets and went back to my desk. I called down to tell them I was picking your sister up early and while I waited the required hour, I started getting contact information for all of the parents on the list. Mary was the first one I called."

Chuck spoke up, "Why my mom?"

"I was good at what I did and everyone knew it." Mary answered quickly.

Marty leaned forward and whispered to her mother, "Hers was the first name on the list, wasn't it?"

"That night, I broke in to the center and stole the floppy disks that held all their data and a few of the movies." Mary explained.

Chuck was surprised with the amount of ease involved, "That's it? Just like that?"

"It was challenging but not the most difficult thing I've ever done. My ID badge got me most of the way. Besides, It was 1986. Technology and security measures weren't exactly laser beams and retinal scans."

"1986?" Sarah was shocked, "Marty was four in 1986." Marty held her hand up and began counting years on her fingers, "This was going on for two years?"

Allison continued to be ashamed, "Unfortunately, yes. And it would have kept going if we hadn't figured it out when we did."

Mary explained, "It was the summer before Chuck was supposed to start kindergarten and the workers had been pushing a prestigious private school on me. We found out later that it was a private school owned and operated by the CIA."

"They wanted to keep us." Chuck stated.

Mary continued with the story, explaining to him, "Just think of all they could have crammed into you with thirteen more years. We had to act quickly and figure out what to do that night. While your father and Allison went over the data and movies, I called the rest of the parents and had them come over. We all made the same choice and decided to put an end to it."

"Put an end to it how?" He asked.

"The only way we knew how." His mother answered.

Marty smiled and said to herself, "Classified."

Mary continued with the explanation, "Only a handful of the parents had actual field experience. So, I took them with me to the homes of everyone involved in the project. Let's just say, they didn't show up to work the next day. After that, we paid a visit to the Director and told him what we had done, that one of our people was going to hold on to all of the information and, if we ever heard of them trying to recreate the experiment, or if our children didn't get to live normal lives, everything would be leaked to the public."

Sarah turned to her mother, "You're the one who took it?"

"Yes." Allison answered, "And everything was fine for a long time. Your dad was supporting the family, I was able to stay home and keep an eye on you girls, we were changing names and homes so quickly, I thought there was no way they'd ever find us…but they did."

"And you left to keep us safe." Marty finished, nudging her sister.

Allison added, tears in her eyes, "You and the rest of the children I promised to protect. I never wanted to leave you. You girls are everything to me. But, I couldn't risk them hurting you to get the information. I didn't say goodbye because I knew it would make everything more difficult. I told your father to keep you girls safe and hidden and I left." Sarah stared at her mother in a new light. Suddenly sorry for her harsh attitude toward her.

"This doesn't make any sense." Chuck cut in, "If we received all of this information then where is it? Before downloading the intersect, the only thing I knew about strategy and conflict involved a remote control and the latest version of Call of Duty."

"It's locked away." Allison explained, "It can only be released by the trigger."

Chuck waited then gave up, "Which is?"

"A song. You have to listen to the whole thing, from start to finish, for it to be effective."

Everyone was waiting for the name of the song and Mary turned to Allison, "They have the right to know."

"J'attendrai by a singer named Dalida." The room was silent, confused glances shared by everyone with the exception of Mary, Allison, and Marty who had an 'Uh-Oh' expression on her face. "It was a popular French disco song but there was no way any of you would have ever heard it…Have any of you heard it?" Again, with the exception of Marty, everyone shook their heads in the negative, "Then I guess they chose the right song."

Marty was the first to speak, "Now, when you say 'J'attendrai' do you mean…" She cleared her throat and continued to sing awkwardly in perfect French, "J'attendrai le jour et la nuit, J'attendrai toujours ton retour, J'attendrai car l'oiseau qui s'enfuit…" She trailed off, while everyone else stared at her in disbelief. "Mr. Owens, our high school French teacher, had a thing for disco."

And finally…the mystery of Marty was explained.


	23. Chapter 23

"So." Chuck started, "When you heard that song and two years worth of programming came rushing into your head, you didn't think, maybe, something was wrong?"

"Well, yeah. The nose bleed and temporarily blurred vision were probably the best indicators…I mean, aside from suddenly being able to visualize how to kill everyone in the classroom with just the eraser from my pencil." Marty answered.

Sarah's concern grew, "Why didn't you tell someone? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Didn't seem important." She said casually.

Allison stepped forward, "Didn't seem important? Martha, you could have serious damage."

"Tell us something we don't know." Casey said to Morgan who simply nodded.

Marty explained, still not seeing the severity of the issue, "Sam had a lot going on with concert band and her braces and dad was super busy with his pyramid schemes. I just didn't want to add to anyone's plate."

Trevor stood in front of her, concerned, "Marty, you need to go to a hospital and get checked out."

"Why? It was over ten years ago. If my head were going to explode, it would have by now." She replied then began squinting her eyes, appearing to be in pain.

Trevor knelt down in front of her while Sarah put her hand on her sister's back, "Marty. Are you OK?"

"Yeah, just these headaches I get sometimes." She doubled over in pain and the level of concern for her well being increased tremendously. Suddenly, she sat up as if everything was fine, smiling, "I'm just kidding." She changed the subject, "Mom, have you met my husband?"

Allison's face dropped in surprise, "Your what?"

"Trevor, this is my mom. Mom, this is Trevor." She put on her bragging face, "Trevor was the quarterback for his high school football team, class president, prom king, valedictorian, and now, he is one of the government's top assassins." She looked down the couch to Chuck who was picking at a stain on his shirt, "How about you introduce Chuck." She directed her sister.

"We'll get to them in a minute. You need to elaborate a little more on being married to an assassin." Allison stated, not amused.

"Oh! Right! Sorry…You missed that part. We met at work. It's kind of a funny story. He chased after me for a while, but it wasn't until I saw him kill three men with a spork that he finally got my attention."

Trevor looked down at Marty lovingly, "For me, it was when you snuck into that strip club and strangled Antonio Ferelli with a thong."

"That was the first day we met." She replied, smiling.

Allison was furious, "You kill people for a living?"

Marty didn't see the need for anger, "So does Sam."

As Allison turned to her other daughter, surprised, Sarah defended, "No! There's a difference between what you do and what I do Marty!"

"You say chips, I say fries. No matter what, it's still a potato. The only thing that's different is you get to dress up and pretend to be someone else before you pull the trigger, where as I get right to the point. If anything, you should be more mad at her for being a liar on top of a killer."

Sarah stared at Marty briefly before reaching for her, starting their wrestling match again.

Casey rolled his eyes, looking away from round two of the Walker…Spencer…whatever fight and Chuck turned to Mary and Allison, "You may as well sit down. This could take a little while…can I get either of you anything?"

"Get your elbow off my boob!" Sarah exclaimed.

"Tell your boob to stop sticking out and maybe it won't be such an obvious resting place for my elbow!" Marty replied.

There were several more grunts, smacking sounds, and 'Ow's' exchanged before Allison stood over the girls, having had enough, "Knock it off!" She yelled, causing all movement in the home to come to a screeching halt.

She looked down at her daughters, Sarah on top of Marty, both girls frozen. Before she could comment, McGruff, who had been laying in front of the couch stood and stared at the door then barked once. Marty growled in frustration, "Owen's here." She pushed Sarah off of her and stood, helping her sister up as well.

"Who's Owen?" Allison asked.

"My stupid boyfriend." She walked to the door and swung it open before he could even knock, plastering a fake smile on, "Owen! What are you doing here so late?"

"Well, I haven't seen you since this morning so I thought I'd stop by. I saw the lights were still on." He leaned to the side to see around her and waved, "Hey everyone."

All the occupants of the room awkwardly said hello and smiled. Mary and Allison were both surprised at the sight of Agent Graham but tried not to let it show.

"Martha, are you going to introduce us?" Allison came up beside Marty with Mary.

Marty smiled through gritted teeth but complied with her mother's request, "Certainly. Owen, this is Chuck's mom, Mary." He leaned forward and shook her hand, smiling warmly as Marty continued, "And this is our mom, Allison."

Owen hugged the woman, "Pleasure to meet you. I've heard a lot about you."

"I haven't even hugged her yet." Trevor complained to Chuck.

"Me either." He replied almost as upset as Trevor about the situation.

Owen stepped back from Allison as Marty continued, "Mom, this is Owen… my boyfriend."

He smiled brightly, "That's the first time you've actually said it." He leaned forward and kissed her. The kiss was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass, coming from the back of the room, where Trevor was standing.

"Oops. Sorry Sis." He apologized for the broken picture frame.

Allison was surprised when Sarah answered him, "That's OK…bro." She lightly punched his shoulder, "You always were such a klutz. Right mom?" Sarah urged her mother to agree with her using just a stare.

"Absolutely, if the day ever came when he was graceful, I'd almost think he wasn't my son." Allison replied and everyone except Owen laughed uncomfortably.

"I was wondering if you'd like to go for a walk?" Owen addressed Marty.

"Sure. I'd love to. One second." She turned to the rest of the room, "I'm going out with Owen." Marty walked around the room, hugging her mother first, then Sarah, then Trevor, whispering her apologies in his ear, extending the hug so it was a little longer than socially acceptable for a brother and sister.

"I don't think we'll be gone that long Marty." Owen called.

Chuck stood next to him and smacked him on the back, "I've never met two siblings who loved each other more than those two. Practically joined at the hip, they are."

Marty made it back to the door and glared at Chuck as she passed him. He simply smiled, "Have fun! You two crazy kids try not to get into any trouble…Wear protection!" Marty turned to him, angry, and slid her pointer finger across her throat just as he shut the door in her face. As soon as his hand left the door, Chuck and Trevor rushed forward to envelope Allison in a hug.

"We're so sorry your first hug had to be a lie." Chuck said.

"You say the word and we'll kill him." Trevor added.

"I would have hugged you so much sooner if it weren't for Sarah resenting you for leaving." Chuck stated.

Sarah stepped forward and pulled them off Allison, "I think, if anyone should be hugging her, it should be me." The men let go and moved away, making room for Sarah to reach forward and wrap her arms around her mother, "I'm so sorry I doubted you."

Her mother melted into the hug and replied, "You had every right to…but, there's something important we all need to discuss." Sarah let go and watched as Allison and Mary shared a look.

"That was Owen Graham." Her mother stated.

"Agent Owen Graham." Chuck corrected.

Sarah looked at her mom, confused, "We didn't tell you his last name. Mom, how did you know that?"

"Because…he was one of the children involved in the project." Allison replied.

Chuck and Sarah's eyes widened as her daughter asked, "Are you sure?"

"I look at the pictures of those children everyday to remind myself of why I left you girls. Yes, I'm sure." She answered.

"Who else was on the list?" Chuck asked.

Allison pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Sarah. She unfolded it, noticing it was old and tattered, as if it had been opened and re-folded hundreds of times. Sarah stared at the list briefly, "Bryce Larkin and Danny Shaw." She looked up at Chuck in shock.

"What?" Chuck pulled the paper from her hands and Casey moved quickly to stand over his shoulder, also interested in the names, "Owen has a brother." Chuck looked up and stared at Sarah, "If he looks anything like Owen then he's-"

"Tall, fit, pretty eyes, about your age." Sarah finished.

"Marty's in trouble." Chuck replied. As quickly as the words were spoken, Trevor yanked the door open and paused, staring straight ahead as the others, who were trying to rush out after him to help Marty, slammed into his back. They all stopped when they saw Owen and Marty, innocently holding hands and sitting at the fountain.

"Hey…everyone." Marty greeted, confused, "Need something?"

"Just for you to get inside." Allison answered, stepping forward as everyone behind her tensed at her movement. She took Marty's hand and pulled her to the door, "It's late and we have an early morning. Lots of sight seeing. You understand, right Owen?"

"Absolutely…I'll see you soon?" He asked, following them to the door as Chuck, Trevor, Casey, and even Morgan stepped forward protectively.

"Yeah." She looked around at the others and pushed through the line, "I'll see you later." Marty looked over her shoulder awkwardly at their audience then turned back and kissed him briefly.

Once Owen was out of sight, everyone filed back into the house. Mary sat on the couch and pulled a laptop from her bag, placed it on the coffee table and began typing.

Marty was the last to enter the room, slamming the door behind her angrily, "What the hell was that about? The more time he spends with me, the less time he has to uncover the fact that I killed all those agents." She turned to her mother, "I'll explain that one later…and, let's be honest here, he hasn't been spending all that much time with me lately. I can't go back to jail!" She turned back to Allison, calm but unsure, "You're probably going to want that one explained too, right?"

"Owen has a brother and they were both involved in the same testing we were." Chuck blurted out.

"Ok and while that's a weird coincidence, it doesn't explain the need for my mother, sister, and husband to be present while I'm trying to make out with my boyfriend!"

"No, but it does explain why Alonzo didn't recognize Owen." Sarah explained.

Marty remained angry and it took a moment for her to understand, but when she finally did, her expression lightened, "Ooooooh. I get it. Good call on coming out there then…Who else is on this list of yours?"

"There were ten of us total." He handed her the paper, "Two are dead, two are the Graham brothers. We need to find out what happened to the other four."

"Already on it." Mary replied from her position on the couch.

Marty continued to stare at the paper trying to remember something, "Heather Adams…" She then turned furious, "That's the bitch who stole my Cherries Jubilee So Soft My Little Pony!"

Chuck ignored her, "Do you think any of them had their programming unlocked?"

"No, that's impossible. I was the only one who knew the trigger. I memorized it then burned the disk it was on. There's no way any of them heard that song." Allison replied.

"Heard that before." Casey mumbled under his breath.

"They're all missing." Mary said, looking up from her computer, "They all disappeared around the same time, a year ago."

Chuck sat, thinking, "There has to be a connection."

"With all of them missing? Nah." Marty answered sarcastically.

"No. Between all of us and the intersect." He replied, still forming his theory.

"Chuck, that's impossible." Sarah stated, sitting down next to him and putting her hand on his shoulder.

"It can't just be a coincidence Sarah. Aside from Daniel and I, no one else has been able to successfully handle that much information without it frying their brain. I'm not saying one was done to lead up to the other but what if this programming is what prepared us to process the massive amount of data in the intersect? What if the other people on this list are capable of it? What if they were taken to become intersects? Who else knew our identities?" Chuck asked Allison and Mary.

"Just the parents. Everyone else was dealt with." Mary answered.

"Someone else had to have known." He replied.

Sarah tried to reason with him, "But your dad. He didn't go through what you did and he was an intersect."

"His version was a prototype. It doesn't have anywhere near as much information as mine does." Sarah still seemed skeptical as he continued, "My father and I found out where Shaw downloaded the intersect but we didn't have time to destroy it before…" He looked down, remembering the moment his father was shot, "Who's to even say it was the only one they built or that Shaw was the only one they tried to download it to? It's a little hard to believe they put all their eggs in one basket."

"Especially considering that basket had it's head chopped off and the rest of it's body burned." Marty added casually, earning look of disbelief from Allison, Sarah, and Chuck, "Just in case he was a vampire." She explained then turned to her mother, "We have a lot of things to talk about, don't we?"

Sarah returned to her conversation with Chuck, "If you're right, and all of those people are intersects…Chuck, none of them have Governors." He looked down at his watch, "They'd be walking around with ticking time bombs in their heads."

"It's only been a year. I had it for almost three before I started having any problems with it. That leaves, at least, another year they could come after us."

"And that would be a bad thing?" Trevor asked.

"That would be a very bad thing." Chuck replied.

Marty looked like she had just realized something, "Alonzo. We left him at your base. If Owen is involved in this, and he goes in to work…Morgan!" He jumped up and moved to Marty, "Open Sarah's gun cabinet, stay here and protect our mom." She grabbed his face with one hand, "Do not let anything happen to her…" That quickly, a metal blade was pushed against his throat. Where the hell did that come from? "Understand?" All Morgan could do was nod in agreement, eyes wide. "Casey, stay with him."

Casey, who had been gearing up to go dropped his face in disappointment and groaned. Chuck, Sarah, Trevor, and Marty rushed for the door, McGruff following behind them. Marty turned quickly, "No!" The dog stopped in his tracks, "You stay and protect." He whined, "Don't you sass me. Stay!" McGruff backed up a few steps and sat as Marty pull the door shut behind her.


	24. Chapter 24

The group entered Castle with caution. If Owen had already been there and seen Alonzo, rushing in wasn't going to do them any good. When Chuck and Trevor reached his cell, he was just as they'd left him, curled up in a ball in the farthest corner of the room, eyes wide open.

"Please don't hurt me." He recoiled even further into the corner once the cell door opened and Chuck stepped forward.

He raised his hands to show he wasn't a threat, "Has anyone been here since we left?"

"No."

"You're sure? You didn't fall asleep at all and miss something?"

"No." He shook his head rapidly.

"OK…get up, you're coming with us." Chuck replied.

As soon as they took a step toward him, Alonzo started screaming, "NO! I've already told you everything I know! Please!"

Marty appeared in the hallway, "Owen just pulled up outside. We have to get out of here now."

"We don't have time for this." Chuck raised a gun to Alonzo, causing him to scream…well, squeal was the more accurate term for it. After firing two rounds of tranquilizer darts into him, he was passed out and drooling. Trevor and Chuck picked him up with a grunt, "Wow. He's sturdy." They carried him, clumsily, out of the cell and through Castle, bumping his head in doorways and accidentally dropping him several times.

"I deleted all the footage from when we entered with Alonzo until now. We don't have much time to get out before the cameras start recording again." Sarah said to Chuck.

He stopped and stared at her in awe, "That's why I love you. You're always thinking." They shared a loving smile as she leaned forward and kissed him briefly.

The men began shuffling out again as Marty smiled fondly, "This is kind of like our honeymoon."

"Yeah." Trevor replied as they struggled with the body, "All we're missing is a French foreign national and an orangutan."

They reached the parking lot and thought they were in the clear. They had timed everything perfectly, leaving through the home theater room as Owen entered through the break room. What they didn't take into account was the fact that Owen might have forgotten something in his car and turned back to get it. They all realized this was a possibility too late, as they began passing the spare Nerd Herders lined up outside of the store.

"What's going on?" Owen called from the other side of the vehicles. Chuck and Trevor dropped Alonzo and stood up straighter, acting as naturally as they could.

Sarah responded, thinking quickly, "Chuck forgot his phone and we thought we'd come with him so Trevor could see where he works."

Marty nudged Trevor, signaling for him to say something, "I like big TV's."

"You were just carrying a body." Owen noted.

They all shared a look of guilt and fear until Chuck suddenly said, "It's Jeff…He drinks because he's unhappy and he's unhappy because he drinks…He was passed out in the home theater room and we were trying to save him from getting in trouble…Morgan said one more incident and he'd be fired…just looking out for a friend…well, I wouldn't really call him a friend…acquaintance might be the more accurate term for what we are…that is an awesome shirt, where'd you get it?" He finished his ramble as Owen tried to look around the cars at the body.

"It's a good thing you're here Owen." Marty stepped into his line of vision, smiling calmly.

"Why that?" He smiled back at her but still wasn't satisfied with their story.

"Because, I was thinking…we've been together for a few weeks now…and I was sorry we had to cut tonight short…we should spend the night together."

Chuck, Sarah, and Trevor whipped their heads to look at her as Owen just stared at her, surprised. He finally found words, "We should?"

"You should?" The three other people asked.

"We should." Marty stated, reaching out and taking his hand.

"But…" Trevor began, taking Marty's hand from Owen's, "Mom's at home, waiting for us…Early day tomorrow."

"And I'll be home in time for it." She replied, pulling her hand back.

"Mom-" Trevor began.

"Mom knows I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself." The look she gave him told him her decision was final, "Get Jeff home safely. I'll see you three in the morning." All that was left for them to do was watch as she got into Owen's car and rode away into the night.

Early the next morning, McGruff stood and wagged his entire backside enthusiastically, staring at the door. When it opened, Marty attempted to quietly step through, hoping the other inhabitants were still asleep. She looked up to see that, not only were Chuck, Sarah, Trevor, Allison, Morgan, and Mary awake and spread out between the living room and dining room table, but the Woodcombs, Casey, Alex, and even Alonzo were over, all staring at her as she entered.

"Best…walk of shame…ever." She stated, staring back at the eleven pairs of eyes fixated on her.

"We thought we'd surprise you guys with a nice Sunday morning breakfast." Ellie explained, gesturing to the food spread across the table.

"Surprise." Devon stated with discomfort instead of excitement.

"What were you thinking Marty?" Sarah asked her sister.

"You're going to have to be more specific because there's a lot of thinking going on up here." She pointed to her head.

"I think she's referring to the point where you left us last night to go into the unknown with a man who, very well, could have had an army of intersects waiting in the shadows to kill you." Chuck explained between bites of his waffle.

Marty laughed, "He's not going to kill me. We're going steady." She looked at Sarah, "I was thinking he wasn't going to be happy until he saw who you were moving. Once he did, the jig would have been up and Alonzo would be dead." She then turned to Alonzo, who was also eating breakfast, "You're welcome." She turned back to Trevor, "And on top of it all, it would have put you and Sam in as much danger as Chuck. So, excuse me, for trying to protect the people I love." Alonzo looked up at her with a hopeful smile, "With the exception of Alonzo." His smile dropped.

It was Trevor's turn, "So, to save us, you decided to go home with the guy with dreamy eyes and a body that could get him a job as an underwear model?" He looked at the rest of the room, "Don't act like you all didn't notice."

"We just slept together. It's no big deal." Marty replied.

"No big deal? You burned our house down when you thought I cheated on you but this is no big deal?"

"No, we didn't sleep together." To illustrate her point she thrust her hips back and forth to each word of 'sleep together', "We slept together." Marty put her palms together and laid her head on them with her eyes closed, "We've only been together for a few weeks. Why would you think I'd jump right in to sleeping with him." Again, to accentuate 'sleeping with him', she thrust her hips.

"Maybe because we slept together on our first date." He followed her example and thrust his hips as well to 'slept together'. The eyes of their audience widened.

"Not exactly something everyone in the room needed to know Trev." She replied.

"If it makes you feel better, Sarah and I technically only waited two dates." Chuck added, trying to help.

"Ellie and I barely made it past hello." Devon stated.

Both men smiled at their individual memories until they noticed they were being glared at by Sarah and Ellie who, in turn, were being stared at by their mothers.

Morgan smiled, "Alex and I-" He stopped immediately when Casey began growling at him, "Are waiting for marriage."

Trevor and Marty turned back to their argument, "What did you do all night then?"

"We held hands and talked about our feelings. Which, by the way, is nice to do from time to time." Marty countered.

"Amen sister." Ellie agreed while Sarah nodded.

Alonzo's phone rang and he glanced at the screen, "The gentleman who commissioned the hit was just notified that the final assassin has failed."

"What does that mean?" Chuck asked.

"It means he's either going to have to raise the amount he's willing to pay, since the level of difficulty has increased, or he's going to have to come after you himself." Alonzo explained.

"Ok. So, I have good news and bad news in addition to that." Marty stated.

"Good." Chuck replied.

"After spending the night with a very bad man, I'm still alive so…" She feigned excitement at her own news, "Wooooo."

"Bad?" Chuck didn't see her silver lining.

"We're dealing with ARC." She explained causing Chuck to go through the familiar process of a flash.

He looked up at the others when it was finished, "American Reformation Collective. Started in 2001 by General Martin Wask. He was given special permission to form a new task force that would handle terror attacks against the US. Ubber patriotic, very skilled, and highly classified."

Marty continued to explain, "All we know is it's a small team, no more than fifteen members at time. They're embedded into the CIA, NSA, FBI, you name the acronym, they hide their agents there until they're called into action. Which, explains why Agent Graham is with the CIA."

"How do you know that much about it?" Sarah asked.

"Classified." Trevor answered.

Marty improved on Trevor's explanation, "You've all heard, 'Shoot First, Ask Questions Later'?" Everyone nodded, "They're more kill everybody, don't ask any questions. We've had to go in and clean up their messes a few times. That entitled us to their back story but the identities of their agents was never revealed."

"And you know this is who we're up against…how?" Sarah questioned.

"I tranqued Owen mid make-out and went snooping through his stuff. I found an arsenal big enough to rival Casey's, a badge that wasn't CIA, and a folder on his iPhone that actually said 'Arc Contacts.' That was what really gave it away."

"In his hotel room?" Chuck began thinking of the places he could hide anything in a hotel room and came up with a very limited amount of options.

Marty shrugged, "You have to know the right places to look."

"I don't get it. If they deal with terrorists, then why are they after me?"

"Didn't get that far. Before I could open the contact folder, he started to wake up. I had to sneak back into bed and let him get to second base just to be sure he wasn't suspicious." She turned to Trevor, "Sorry about that."

"Define second base." Trevor eyed his wife critically.

She simply shrugged again, "I'm an old fashioned girl." Trevor wasn't satisfied with her answer. She rolled her eyes and exhaled in frustration, "Kissing horizontally and a little over the shirt boob action."

"Which boob?" He asked, anger flaring in his eyes.

She pointed to her right breast and answered apologetically, "This one."

His eyes doubled in size, "That one's my favorite."

She looked at the group and explained, "One is slightly bigger than the other."

"Ooooh." Came the acknowledgment and understanding of all the women in the room, causing the eyes of every husband and fiancé to shoot down to their significant other's chest.

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the bathroom, "Be right back." She called over her shoulder just before the door slammed behind them. It was considerate of them to try to whisper their fight but the purpose of whispering was defeated due to the fact that they were doing it loud and angrily to one another. Chuck attempted to make conversation in hopes of drawing attention away from where he thought the fight might be going. Especially considering how similar Marty and Sarah were.

"So…Alonzo…how exactly did you come about being the middleman between an assassin and someone who wants someone dead…what do you call that person, by the way?"

"A client." He answered simply, "It's a family business. My father forced me into it. I wanted to be a zookeeper."

There was a loud thump from the bathroom and Sarah jumped in to another conversation, "Mom!" Allison looked up quickly, "Did I tell you, Marty saved your wedding dress."

"She did?" Her mother smiled, "That was very sweet of her. I assume, you're telling me, because you'll be wearing it on Saturday."

"I will." Sarah smiled at her mother.

"For someone who hated me, that's a very strange thing to do."

"I never hated you-" She was cut off when they heard another thump and a loud giggle coming from the other room, though no one could say with any certainty which of the couple it had come from. Sarah tried again, "I never hated you. I was upset that you had left but, as soon as I saw you again, I had already made the decision to forgive you. It just took a while for my brain to get that message."

Before Allison could respond, there was another loud thump followed by a declaration of, "Later." A collective exhale of relief filled the room. The door opened and the couple re-emerged, smiling.

Alonzo stood, "I should be leaving…prices on heads to collect and all that." Chuck smiled uncomfortably and nodded his head to say goodbye to the man. The others said their goodbyes and he turned back, "Ellie, I'll email you that recipe."

"That'd be great. Nice meeting you." She smiled and waved as he left, "He was such a nice man." Awesome nodded in agreement as everyone else stared at her in disbelief.

"If things are going to get bad, then I need to get Allison out of here." Mary stood.

"Absolutely." Sarah agreed, rising to hug her mother goodbye. Whispered apologies were once more exchanged between the women.

Allison moved to Marty, "We're going to talk when I see you again." They hugged.

"We'll be back for the wedding." Mary explained.

"Assuming there's still going to be a wedding." Chuck added..

"Don't think like that Chuck. Of course there's going to be a wedding. I mean…even if you die, Morgan's getting married soon and we'll all get together for that one." Marty smiled at her soon to be brother in law then turned serious, "Morgan!" He sprung forward to Marty's side, "You're going to be staying with Ellie and Devon." She opened Sarah's gun storage, "Gear up…Alex, you're staying with them too." She pointed to the guns and Alex reached forward for one, "Don't be shy. Take two. Devon…" He looked up, not sure what she wanted and she pointed again to the guns, "Act like you've done this before."

That night, Sarah and Chuck were back in each other's arms, in their bedroom, not taking their time together for granted. Kisses were exchanged, hands were roaming and breathing took the form of heavy panting. Sarah was on top of Chuck, in her trademark lingerie.

"I love you, so much." Chuck proclaimed between kisses.

Sarah broke the trail of kisses and gazed lovingly down at him, "I love you too Chuck. I always will." She smiled at him and moved in to reclaim his lips.

He stopped her, "Promise me that if anything happens-"

She looked at him, determined, "Nothing is going to happen to you." She moved toward him again but was stopped once more.

"But…if anything does…please, just listen." He asked when it appeared that she was going to argue with him again, "If anything happens, let me go." She shook her head, on the brink of tears, trying to ignore the conversation. He held her face and stared directly into her eyes, "Don't try to avenge me. I want you to let me go and live a normal life. One that doesn't revolve around anger and revenge."

"I won't promise that."

"Please."

"Why are you asking me this?" She stared at him suspiciously.

He broke her gaze, nervous about telling her what he'd been planning, but knowing it was impossible to keep anything from her when she looked at him like that, "I've been thinking…I can't let anyone die to protect me. I'm going to turn myself over to Agent Graham."

This got her attention. She grabbed his face and forced him to look at her, "You listen to me Charles Irving Bartowski. You will not be turning yourself over to anyone, do you understand me?" She poked him in the chest, her anger growing, "Do you know how long I waited to find someone like you? Someone who makes me smile? Someone who makes me feel special and doesn't care about my past? Someone who makes my stomach do weird girly flips and makes my head all murky because he's all I can think about?" She didn't give him a chance to answer, "A long damn time! Hell, I didn't even know I wanted any of those things until I met you! You and your…" She struggled with words, "…goofy smile and your ridiculously shaggy hair…your stupid Bartowski eyebrow dance…being foolish enough to try to be heroic and saving my life more times than I can count when I was supposed to be saving yours…And if you think, for one second, that I'm going to give any of that up without a fight, you're an idiot!" She smacked him in the forehead.

"Too many people are willing to die for me. Sarah, your sister-"

"Why does everyone think the sister can't take care of herself?" Marty asked as she and Trevor stood above Chuck and Sarah. Both looked up at her, surprised and embarrassed, not knowing how long they had been there.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Chuck asked, Sarah still on top of him.

"The living room." Marty answered as if it were the only explanation necessary. She glanced at what Sarah was wearing, "That's cute." After smacking Trevor and telling him, "Cover your eyes. Show a little decency." She moved over to the window and peaked out, "Good news and bad news."

"Good news." Sarah requested.

Trevor took over, "From the sound of things, we've agreed that you have a pretty good handle on number twelve." He smiled and gave Chuck a fist bump.

Sarah looked down at him in shock, "He's where that came from?"

"No…actually, Marty was the one who told me about number twelve." Chuck answered awkwardly.

"You got sex tips from my sister? My baby sister?"

"Sam, would you rather he get them from me…or Morgan?" Marty asked.

Sarah glared at her briefly, still upset that something so dirty, yet so wonderfully arousing, had come from her little sister. At the same time, she did enjoy number twelve very much and, if the other eleven are anything like it, she couldn't be too terribly mad at her for sharing the information. She decided, instead, to change the subject, "Bad news?"

"We're pretty sure they're here." Marty answered.


	25. Chapter 25

"What do you mean you're pretty sure they're here?" Chuck asked as he and Sarah scrambled to get dressed.

"We're positive they're here. We just thought, if we said it with uncertainty that it might make the situation a little less stressful." Chuck and Sarah ceased their movement and just stared at her, "Not so much then?"

Sarah pulled a gun from under her pillow and went over to the closet.

"We can't all hide in there, they'll find us." Chuck told her and was met with a 'You seriously think I'd be that stupid' look from Sarah as she pressed something on the other side of the wall and a square door was released from the floor, gliding up and revealing a ladder that went down to who knows where, "How long has that been there?"

"I had it installed the last time we were in France." She smiled at him.

"Always thinking." He smiled back.

Marty looked down the ladder quickly, "Neat…Go."

Chuck motioned for Sarah to go down first and she refused, "No. They're going to expect him to be with me. I'm going out the window to try and draw them away."

He looked at her with determination, "What? Sarah….No! Absolutely not."

"He's right, Sam. Go with him. We can hold them off."

Sarah crossed the room to her sister, taking hold of her hands, "You know I'm right. I need you to go with him…" Marty shook her head, "…keep him safe…for me…please?"

It only took Marty a few more seconds of looking into Sarah's pleading eyes before she agreed and turned to Chuck, "Down the hole, Alice."

"I'm not going anywhere without Sarah! We can't just leave her here on her own against a small army!"

"She won't be alone." Trevor, announced. Marty stared at him briefly, a tear threatening to fall before she fought it back and nodded in agreement.

"It can work." She turned to Chuck, "You're tall and goofy looking. He's tall…" She turned to her husband, "…put on some of his clothes to make it more convincing."

Trevor quickly stripped down then grabbed Chuck's Nerd Herd uniform and threw it on.

Sarah crossed back to Chuck, he tried to reason with her, "This is ridiculous. You're sending away the two people who can help the most. We can stay and we can all fight."

"No, on top of keeping you safe for selfish reasons, you're the most valuable intelligence asset the CIA and NSA has. ARC can't get a hold of you." She held his face in her hands, "Wherever you two end up, I'll find you…I'll always find you." She kissed him passionately and, when she finally broke away, it appeared to cause her pain. She smiled reassuringly through it, "I'll see you soon. I don't care if there's a hundred of them…they can't keep me from you."

He shook his head, still refusing to go, "No."

Marty crossed the room to the closet, "Where we spent the summer of '95." Sarah nodded.

"I'm not leaving you!" Chuck declared once more before, without expecting it, Marty simply pushed him down the hole, "Hope that wasn't a particularly long drop." She stepped down to follow.

"Marty, wait!" Sarah called. Her sister looked up, "If that was number twelve...how many are there?"

Marty smiled, "Twenty seven. Number twenty eight is still in the trial phase." Sarah's eyes widened and, that quickly, her sister's head disappeared, pulling the door shut behind her.

"No!" Chuck screamed, looking up at the closed door. He stared at Marty, who was now on the ground level with him, "You really shouldn't have done that." His eyes rolled around as he flashed, willingness to hit a woman suddenly gone now that Sarah's life was put in danger. He swung at Marty without hesitation. Having seen him flash before, she knew what he was doing and expected the attack. She dodged out of the way as his body continued forward with the momentum of the punch. Once he passed her, she grabbed him from behind with her left arm, sword having appeared again in her right hand, and pressed it to his neck. It all happened very quickly.

"Where the hell do you keep pulling those from?"

"You being up there would only distract her."

Chuck flashed again and pushed backward until Marty was slammed into the wall. While she was still dazed, he grabbed her right arm, raised it up, and slammed it down on his shoulder, causing her to let the sword go. Still holding on, he sent his left elbow back to connect with her face. He moved behind her and wrapped both of his arms around her, pinning her arms to her sides, "You don't know that. Me being up there could be the difference between her living and dying."

Marty stomped on his foot, thrust her hips forward, then back hard, so her rear end made contact with his groin. She let her weight drop and raised her arms simultaneously, slipping out from his grasp. On her way down, she grabbed Chuck's ankle and pulled up, causing him to fall to the ground on his back. She turned to face him and in a very smooth, yet 'Tiiiiimber' like fashion, she dropped herself on top of him, elbow on his throat, applying the right amount of pressure to subdue him, "Sam can take care of herself. She'll get out of there a hell of a lot easier without having to worry about you."

Chuck reached frantically with his right hand, not sure what he was looking for until he found the handle of Marty's dropped sword. He wrapped his fingers around it then brought it up, pounding her in the head with the butt of it to accentuate every word, "She…needs…me."

Marty leaned back just enough for Chuck to bring his leg up to kick her in the stomach, pushing her away from him. He stood quickly, pointing the sword at her.

She raised her hands in defeat, "Fine. You want to go up there and get her killed, then go right ahead."

Chuck relaxed the arm holding the sword slightly, "Really? I thought you'd put up more of a fight than that."

"I'm respecting the fact that my sister probably doesn't want you too badly beaten for your wedding next week." She wiped the blood from her mouth and felt the large bump forming on her head from where he had beaten her with her own sword. She pulled her hand away to see that there was blood there too, "You, apparently, don't feel as strongly about good wedding pictures as I do."

"I'm sorry about your head but you have to understand…I love your sister and, if there's something I can do to keep her safe, I'm going to do it." He turned to the ladder but, before he could climb up it, Marty put her hand on his shoulder where it met his neck.

"Me too." It was the last thing he heard before he passed out.

Back in the bedroom, McGruff had appeared and was staring out the open window with Sarah and Trevor, both armed and waiting. She let her eyes travel to the floor of the closet, "I'm surprised he hasn't tried to burst back through yet."

"Yeah, well, Marty can be very persuasive when she needs to be."

"So can Chuck. That's what I'm worried about."

"Short of killing him, she'll do whatever it takes to keep him from coming back up here because she knows it's what you want." He paused briefly, still looking out the window, "She talks about you all the time, you know." Sarah was surprised, "She looks up to you."

"She looks up to me?" The shock deepened and she turned away from the window briefly to look at Trevor, "I think you have me confused with someone else." She looked back out the window, "Marty was always the one doing things that were deserving of praise and hero worship. I pretty much kept under the radar."

"You weren't much older than her but, when your mom left, you're the one who stepped up and took care of everyone. You became the adult so she could be a kid…Besides, you should hear her go on and on when she reads your missions files. She still brags about what you did in Venice in 2002."

She smiled, seeing her relationship with Marty in a whole new light, "Let's give her something new to talk about then, shall we?" She racked the slide on her gun.

Trevor bent down to McGruff. He tied a small bag to the dog's collar, "Go to Ellie and Devon's." The dog whined, "Go!" He jumped out the window and trotted across the courtyard to the Woodcomb home. After scratching to be let in, he looked back at the window, whining again until Devon cautiously opened the door. He stepped through but looked back one last time before the door closed.

"What you got there boy?" Devon asked as he noticed the small bag. He opened it and removed it's contents to reveal a piece of paper and a set of keys.

"What is it?" Ellie asked, holding Clara.

Devon read the note, "Go out your bedroom window now. Black Excursion. Take care of McGruff. We'll find you." By the time Devon finished with the note, McGruff was back at the door, staring at it and whining.

"Morgan, Alex, get your stuff! We have to go now!" Devon called.

Sarah saw four figures, dressed in black and holding weapons, at the courtyard entrance to their right. She looked at Trevor and he nodded, "I'll go first and give you cover. Don't let them see your face." She warned, "Give me your gun. Graham knows Chuck refuses to use one." He reluctantly handed his pistol over to her.

Sarah backed up to the bedroom door, took a deep breath, a short running start, and launched herself out of the window, firing at the intruders as she flew through the air. Just before she hit the ground, she folded her body and rolled. Without wasting any time, as soon as she popped up, she began firing again, forcing the agents to maintain their cover, "Go Chuck!" She screamed, hoping it was convincing.

At her command, Trevor moved out quickly, arms up and covering his face, running toward the left entrance. When he reached the corridor, three other agents were waiting for them, all carrying assault rifles. Without breaking his stride, he ran toward the wall, up it slightly, stepped off it and kicked the one closest to him. He grabbed the gun of the man he had just kicked as the second agent rushed toward him. Trevor used the butt of the rifle to strike him in the throat, swung it down forcefully onto the head of the first man, then back again, across the face of the second. With two down, he had to fight the urge to shoot the third and decided to throw the rifle at the man instead, catching him off guard. The blow from the rifle was very shortly followed by Trevor jumping up and kicking his opponent in the chest with both feet. He landed on his side just as Sarah came through and picked up one of the assault rifles, firing it through the courtyard to give them enough of a chance to reach the street. She tossed Trevor the keys as he slide into the driver's seat and started the engine. Sarah waited for their assailants to come through the entrance and, upon their arrival, fired several more shots, causing them to drop down and out of the way. She climbed into the passenger seat, still firing out the window as Trevor sped off. Their attackers regrouped and briefly shot at the car speeding off into the distance. They returned to the courtyard to see Owen and his brother, Tyler Graham, coming out of the Bartowski apartment.

"They got away, heading south." One man dressed in black reported.

A woman emerged from the Woodcomb home, "Empty."

"This one is too." Another woman called from Casey's apartment.

Tyler looked at his brother, "You said they wouldn't be expecting anything."

"Get to the cars!" Owen yelled, ignoring him.

The gunfire had started when The Awesomes, Morgan, and Alex reached the vehicle left for them. Morgan and Alex rushed to climb into the back row. Ellie stopped for a split second, surprised to see a car seat for Clara, then quickly buckled her in. McGruff hesitated, looking to the direction that he heard the gun shots coming from.

"Come on boy, get up." Devon urged. He looked at Devon then back to the apartment complex, "McGruff, in." The dog ignored him. As a last ditch effort, he even tried simply pointing into the vehicle but nothing worked and McGruff took off running back to the apartments. In that second, Devon made the decision to not risk the lives of the people in the vehicle for the dog and climbed into the driver's seat. He saw a note taped to the steering wheel that read, 'Act natural. No rush.' After taking a deep breath to collect himself, he turned the key in the ignition, put on his turn signal, and gradually pulled out of the parking space and onto the road, slow to accelerate.

"Devon, honey, I understand the need for caution with the baby in the car but I think it would be alright to flee quickly, just this once." Ellie stated from her seat next to Clara.

"No, babe." He reached back and handed her the note, "They wanted us to take our time…not draw attention to-" Before he could finish, three large SUV's sped past, going in the opposite direction. Devon watched the rear view mirror to make sure none of them were turning around to follow them.

"Calculating route." The vehicle's navigator announced.

"Calculating to where?" Ellie asked.

"I don't know." Devon answered.

"Guys." Morgan called from the back seat, "There's a bag back here filled with an insane amount of money." He held up handfuls of it.

"And a new driver's license and passport for all of us." Alex noted, also going through the bag, "There's even one for my dad…and new dog tags for McGruff." She laughed slightly as she read the new name, "Wang Chung."

"You know…" Ellie started, "For someone who seems so carefree and irresponsible, Marty is quite the planner."

As Trevor drove, Sarah made a phone call, "Casey, where are you? What do you mean they cleaned us out?" She paused briefly, "He's with Marty. Trevor and I are trying to lead them away…I can't tell you where they're going…No, Alex is safe. We'll contact you when we can." She hung the phone up and tossed it out the window, "Owen confiscated all the weapons from Castle. We need to ditch this car. He probably has a tracking device planted somewhere on it."

"We planned for that." Trevor smiled.

An hour later, the black Excursion was still on its way to wherever the hell it was programmed it to go, Sarah and Trevor were driving the new car they had transferred to which had been hidden in a parking garage that, conveniently, had all video surveillance turned off, Chuck was passed out in the passenger car of Marty's bike, and Casey returned to his apartment to see the courtyard practically destroyed.

"Bartowski and Walker are always breaking stuff without me…going off on their own." He had missed a good fight and was disappointed. He turned to enter his apartment and was startled to see McGruff sitting outside his door as if he had been waiting just for him.


	26. Chapter 26

Chuck was able to open his eyes but, other than that, there wasn't much else he could do. He was face down on a bed, his pillow wet from drool, and unable to move any of his body. He stared at the wall in front of him, realizing he was in a motel room. Judging by the smell of things, it was a cheap motel and he immediately regretted the fact that his mouth was open on the pillowcase. He found the strength to pick his head up just enough to turn it to the other side of the room. The bright sunlight pouring in from the window caused him to squint, but he was still able to make out Marty, sitting in chair, gazing alternately between the outside and the smart phone she held in her hand.

"Sarah." He mumbled into the pillow. Marty turned to him and he mumbled again, "Where's Sarah?"

He saw her look down but wasn't able to see her face turn sullen, "I'm not sure. They should have been here by now."

"Where's here?" He wanted to be able to show some sort of emotion but his brain felt jumbled and he lacked the facial control necessary to change his expression. Everything he said came out flat and uninterested when that couldn't have been further from the truth.

"Just outside of Reno."

"Reno? Reno, Nevada? That's like eight hours away from home."

"You've been out for a while."

"What the hell did you do to me?" He noticed his was able to lift his head higher now and with less difficulty.

"The feeling in your body should come back gradually. I bet you can already wiggle your fingers." He tried and noted that she was correct but he could also move his arms. Using all his strength, he managed to push himself over to lay on his back.

She was impressed, "Hey! You're a fast healer! Good for you!"

Chuck ran through the events that he could remember, "We were fighting, then you let me go…I tried to climb the ladder…but you grabbed me…" He reached up and felt his neck, "Did you do the Vulcan nerve pinch on me?"

"Something like that."

He panicked, "Wait, you said Sarah was supposed to be here by now…why isn't she?"

"Don't know."

"Where else could she be?"

She tossed him her phone and he held it up to see that there was a map of Burbank on the screen with a red, unmoving dot, "Stalking your husband…there's an app for that." Chuck looked back up to her, "Because of our jobs, we wanted to always be able to find one another. His wedding ring has an undetectable tracking device embedded in it…so did mine."

"Where's yours?"

"Probably still in a pile of ash." Chuck stared at her in disbelief and she merely shrugged, "A woman scorned." Was her only explanation.

"We have to go find her." He could wiggle his toes and assumed it was enough to stand. He was wrong. As soon as his feet touched the ground, and he attempted to raise his body, his legs gave out from under him and he fell to the floor. His face immediately turned from pained to disgusted, "Smells like pee! Smells like pee!" He did all he could to pick his body up but failed, "Help me up!" He managed to roll over to his back.

Marty crouched down in front of him, with no sense of urgency, "Well, that's not the right way to ask…is it?"

"Please…please, help me up."

She thought briefly, "No. That's not the right way either."

"What?" He screamed, "What other way is there?"

"Relax, Chuck. You've already rolled around in it, what's a few more seconds going to do?" She grabbed him under the arms and dragged him to the bed, helping him to climb back in.

He looked around the room, "This is where you and Sarah spent an entire summer?"

"Yeah. Dad was here working a con. He was collecting money from investors for a strip club with a medieval theme. You'd be surprised at how many people wanted to get in on the ground floor of The RenASSance Fair." Chuck squinted his eyes at her mispronunciation of renaissance, "See, it's clever because it was a strip club and renaissance was spelled with an A-S-S…because it's naked girls…hence-"

"I get it." Marty returned to her watch at the window as Chuck picked her phone back up and stared at the screen, "Still not moving. We need to do something."

"I'm still deciding."

"Who says it's your choice?"

"Can you move your legs yet?"

Chuck tried, "No."

"Do you have any money to get back?"

He looked surprised, searched his pockets for his wallet, then gave her a frustrated glare and spoke between clenched teeth when he realized she had taken it, "No."

"Do you have a gun."

"No."

"Then it's my choice."

"We need to go after her…after Trevor." He hoped that bringing her missing husband into the picture might help to sway her to his side. For the briefest second, she looked as if she was coming around, "Just, think about it. They'll never see it coming. We'll get Casey and your team to help."

"No. They wouldn't do it."

"What? But they're your friends. I'm sure if you explained the situation to them-"

"There's nothing in it for them…besides, ARC is dangerous and there's no telling whether they've recruited back up. I'd couldn't send them into that."

"But you're ok with Sarah being in it?" He thought briefly and softened his tone to one of pleading, "They could have them…your husband, my fiancé…your Sam." At the sound of Chuck using her real name, Marty flinched but still didn't respond. He tried something new, and changed to anger, "Here I was, under the false impression, that you were some kind of a badass. You're right. We should just stay here and hide. Hey, we're in Reno. Let's go get matching tattoos. What's something symbolic of cowardice? Let's see, there's chickens, pansies, little babies curled up in the fetal position…I mean, unless you can't take the pain of the needle. Then maybe we can just find some rub-ons for you." When she remained quiet, he decided to try one last tactic, "Sarah was wrong about you. You don't belong anywhere near the pedestal she has you up on."

Marty stood quickly and it was Chuck's turn to flinch. She crossed to the bed, pinched both his earlobes and poked a spot at the base of his neck, "Get up."

"I can't." She pulled him up and he fully expected to fall back down but his legs held sturdy beneath him, "Wow…that was like Xena Warrior Princess how you just did that."

She picked up a motorcycle helmet and tossed it to him before yanking the door open and storming out. Chuck was sorry he had wasted so much time before throwing that final barb in. Had he done it last night, he could be with Sarah right now, wherever that was. Whether it be asleep, safely tucked into bed or in a dark cell, being tortured…at least they would have been together.

Unfortunately, the second scenario was the actual case. She and Trevor were tied to chairs, back to back, both bruised and bloody. Everything had been going according to plan. They had successfully switched vehicles and were almost out of town when they were rear ended by a police squad car at the last traffic light before the interstate entrance. Had they not been sandwiched between said squad car and another vehicle, they gladly would have fled the scene, taking their chances in a high speed car chase. They were stuck and the officer was unwilling to let the incident slide, despite Sarah's insistence to do so.

He had learned, at the academy, that when someone is adamant about not reporting an accident, it's usually because they have something to hide. He decided to play it cool but went to his cruiser to call in a description of them. It didn't take long before Owen and his team rushed to the scene. One of the men stepped forward, flashing a U.S. Marshal's badge, claiming Trevor and Sarah were escaped criminals that they had been after for weeks. He commended the officer on a job well done, pushed them into one of the SUV's, and sped off into the night, stopping in the parking lot of a small grocery store.

The pair was dragged through the cereal aisle, to the meat department, where they walked through the freezer. Tyler moved a slab of beef aside to reveal a retinal scanner which he stood in front of. The door slid open and they were pushed down a long corridor which came to an end at another door. This time Sarah saw him prick his finger and squeeze a drop of blood onto a glass slide that disappeared into the wall. Seconds later, the door opened and Sarah was surprised to see a base that looked similar to Castle.

After passing even more agents along the way, they were taken to their shared cell and tied to their chairs. Owen entered, followed by a woman he introduced as Agent Adams. Sarah assumed it to be Heather Adams, the bitch who stole her sisters favorite childhood toy. For that, she was placed on the ever growing list. Owen told them he refused to hit a lady, thus the need for Agent Adams. From there, they began beating Sarah and Trevor, never asking any questions, perfectly content just to inflict pain. When they decided it was enough, they shut off the light and left the room.

What seemed like hours later, they returned, Owen pulling a cart behind him, "Did you have a nice night?" He asked.

"Not really." Sarah replied, straightening herself, "I always have trouble sleeping when I'm too comfortable." Trevor smirked, deciding she was more like Marty than he had realized.

For this, Owen nodded at Agent Adams and she punched Sarah in the face. He began pacing, "Let's get down to business, shall we?" He picked up a knife from the cart, "Where's Chuck?"

Trevor feigned relief, "Ooooh! You're looking for Chuck? Why didn't you just say so last night? We could have saved you all that damage we did to your fists with our ribs and skulls." His comment earned a smile of respect from Sarah.

Owen walked around to face him, "Funny guy." He stabbed the knife into Trevor's shoulder causing him to yell out in pain while he twisted it and dug it in deeper. It wasn't a particularly excruciating scream, more of a growl really, but without being able to see him, Sarah knew it was bad. When Owen's cell phone rang, he stopped moving the knife but kept it in Trevor's shoulder. He glanced at the screen and smiled, "It's your sister." Sarah stiffened and Trevor swallowed any other sounds of pain he was thinking of letting go. Owen moved to stand between the two so they both had to turn sideways to see him, "I think I'll put her on speakerphone…but only if the two of you can behave." Sarah simply glared at him, "I'll take that as a yes." He answered the phone, "Hello?" He twisted the knife, and Trevor contorted his face in pain, but no sound followed.

Marty's voice came through sweet and innocent, like a teenage girl, "Hi, is Owen home?"

"Speaking."

"So glad I could reach you Babe. I was wondering if you wanted to go to the mall or something later."

"I'm kind of busy right now, and I think you know why." He twisted the knife and Trevor couldn't help but growl again.

"Is that Trevor?" There was a hint of a smile to her voice, like the whole situation was a joke, "It means a lot to me that you're spending time together. What have you boys been up to?"

"Oh. You know…a little of this, a little of that." He pulled the knife out then stabbed it back in. Trevor groaned.

"Sounds like a good time. I can let you go if you're busy Honey Nipples."

"No, not busy at all. Hey, have you by chance seen Chuck?"

"Chuck…Chuck…he was around here somewhere. I'm always losing stuff. You know how it is, right Pumpkin? Wait! There he is. I found him." There was a long pause, "Oh! You wanted to speak to him. Sure thing Sweet Heart."

Sarah's heart fluttered. She was going to get to hear his voice one last time and that would be enough for her.

"You're a go for Chuck." He was also playing the casual game.

Owen picked up another knife and stood in front of Sarah, "Where've you been hiding Chuck?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say we've been hiding really. We were just in Reno, playing the tables. I won sixty dollars at the roulette wheel so now, I'm treating Marty to some ice cream. After this, I think we might catch a show, maybe take a spa day."

"Woo!" Marty exclaimed in the background.

Owen was done playing their games and stabbed the knife into Sarah's thigh. She wasn't expecting it and she cried out in pain. There was a pause, followed by a rustling sound.

Marty had taken back over, "Sarah's there too? Well aren't you just getting cozy with my family…are you getting ready to propose?"

"Yeah. Why don't you tell me where you are so I can come and ask you in person?"

"Nah. We'll come to you."

Owen laughed, "There's no way possible you have any idea where we are."

"Snookie Wookums, a love like ours doesn't need MapQuest. I'll just follow my heart." Trevor glanced down at his wedding ring, "Am I on speakerphone?"

"You are indeed. Would you like to say hello to your siblings?"

"I'd love to Light of my Life. Sam?"

"Yeah Marty?"

"How you doing?"

"Just getting acquainted with your old friend Heather Adams."

"I'll make a mental note of that. And Trevor?"

"Having a swell time sis"

"Making lots of friends?"

"At least thirty."

Marty heard the sound of flesh striking flesh, "That's enough. We have to go now. Nice talking to you."

"Oh, Sugar Tits…" Marty called before Owen could hang up. Trevor knew whatever she was going to say next was directed to him and not Owen. She had used her pet name for him, after all, "I'm thinking of getting my old band back together. Maybe we can play at the wedding." Fear swelled in Trevor's stomach. She was assembling their team and they were coming to try and save them. His fingers found Sarah's hand and, praying she knew Morse Code, he tapped the message to her. As soon as he finished, he knew she understood when he heard her gasp slightly.

Marty and Chuck had covered a large amount of distance in the short time since they had left the motel. He wasn't sure why she had stopped but, when she pulled out her cell phone, he assumed the calls to her team and Owen were the only reason for the break. After her hung up on Owen, she crossed the street to a run down apartment complex in what looked like a dangerous neighborhood.

"What are you doing? We need to get back on the road." Chuck called, looking down at his watch.

"We need to find out what we're going in to."

"And we're going to do that here?" He jogged to catch up with her.

"This is where my computer guy lives."

"You're what? You have a computer guy?"

"Oh, yeah. I have a guy for everything…except for my lady doctor. It just doesn't seem right to have another man poking around down there." She explained as she buzzed an apartment, looked up at a surveillance camera, and smiled. The click of the door unlocking followed shortly after. They climbed four flights of stairs until Marty came to the right hallway. She followed it all the way to the end then knocked out a rhythm on the door to apartment 4G. He heard another click and she pushed the door open, stepping in with Chuck close behind. The scene before him was not what he was expecting given the exterior of the building or the hallway they had just passed through.

He looked back out at the dingy hallway with stains on the carpet and walls then back in at their surroundings. It was designed to resemble an old, upscale library. Everything matched perfectly in shades of brown. The furniture was leather, there was no TV, just shelves of books. Even the paintings on the walls looked like they belonged in museums.

Speaking of, Chuck flashed when he examined one, astonished, "This is Caravaggio's _Saint Matthew and The Angel_. It was destroyed in World War II when the Allies bombed Berlin."

Marty appeared over his shoulder and looked at the painting, tilting her head to the side as if it was necessary to do in order to view a work of art, "Doesn't look destroyed to me."

Chuck continued to look around, "I don't understand."

Marty explained, "He's a nice guy, does a lot for the team. We take good care of him." She pointed to a bouquet of lilies sitting on the dining room table, "Mia's been here."

Marty continued to move, Chuck following close behind, once he broke free from the shock, until they came to a metal door in the back of the apartment. She knocked three times, paused, then knocked once more. The lock on the door was released and they entered to see the back of a man, hunched over something, with a bright light shining down on his workspace. Chuck recognized the aroma in the air and knew he was working on a circuit board with a soldering iron. It had been such a familiar smell, even growing up.

The man put his tool down and barely turned, still unrecognizable from their angle. He looked down uncomfortably, "Hello Charles."


	27. Chapter 27

_Disclaimer: Don't own Chuck…Don't own Journey…Metallica…Sugarland…Nikki Minaj…The Avett Brothers...or anything else that didn't come from the Super Wal-Mart._

**Side note: Because…let's be honest…we all know he's still alive…**

Chuck was speechless as he stared at the man he spent a year thinking was dead. The man he watched die…his father. The process of breathing suddenly became unfamiliar and he found it necessary to put his hand on Marty's shoulder to steady himself.

After hearing Stephen greet Chuck without an introduction, and the fact that Chuck had turned several shades whiter, she began putting things together, "You two know each other."

"He's…" Chuck stopped and swallowed the small amount of bile that had worked its way up to his throat, "He's my father."

Marty took on a look of pleasant surprise and pushed an already weak legged Chuck, "Get out!" He stumbled back into the wall. She looked excitedly back and forth between the men, "There it is. I see it now. Same chin."

Chuck stared at Marty, "You didn't know?"

"No." Stephen answered for her, "When her team found me, they offered to reunite me with my family but, the Ring had already used Ellie once to get to me, I couldn't risk it happening again. I decided it was safer for you both to keep on believing I was dead-"

Marty bobbed her head, quietly singing, "Don't stop…believing." Both men slowly turned their heads to her. She moved to look around the rest of the room, still singing to herself, "Hold on to that feeling."

Stephen returned to his conversation with Chuck, "I convinced them to agree to a 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy about my past in exchange for my services." He picked up the circuit board he had been working on and tossed it aside.

Chuck was still in shock, "Where were you? What happened?"

"After Shaw shot me-"

"You were dead." Chuck interrupted.

"No, not quite. I was…" Stephen struggled to find the right word.

Marty spun around quickly, "Mostly dead?"

He looked at her and smiled, "Yes…The whole thing was a set up. After you were taken away, Agent Sullivan-"

"The one who tricked Ellie." Chuck clarified.

"Yes. He had a few Ring agents on standby to take me back down-"

Chuck realized where the story was headed, "To the regeneration lab where they brought Shaw back."

"Yes. After that, I was moved to a different Ring facility until-"

"Marty's team found you."

"Why'd you ask what happened if you already know?" Marty asked.

Stephen continued, "She saved my life. When the Ring agents found out their base had been breached, they put everything into self-destruct mode. They didn't want to take any chances with me so I was only granted access to a computer under supervision and they kept me in a cell that required a full facial scan from the base commander to open. I had no way of getting out. Instead of running to save her own life, she tracked the commander down before he could escape."

"And you dragged him back to the cell?" Chuck asked.

"Not all of him." Marty smiled as he thought of her, holding a severed head by the hair, carrying it through a building, dripping blood everywhere.

He shook the image and hugged Marty unexpectedly, "You saved my dad's life. I don't think there's anything I could ever do to repay you."

She patted him on the back and acted as if were no big deal, "Give me twenty bucks and we'll call it square."

He broke the hug and returned his gaze to his father, "Did they do anything to you? Did they hurt you?"

"I won't go into details. All you need to know is that I was forced to draw up a schematic for the Governor."

"So ARC's intersects all have Governors." Chuck noticed his father wasn't phased by the mention of ARC or the fact that they have intersects…emphasis on the pluralizing of intersect, "And you're not surprised, in the slightest, at anything I'm talking about."

Stephen gestured to the monitors, "I've been watching you."

"Then you know they have Sarah." Marty cleared her throat at his slip, "And Trevor."

"Yes." Stephen turned to Marty, "Glad you two worked things out."

"I didn't feel as good about it until I cut that bitch's head off." Marty added casually. Again, both men stared at her.

"I thought we agreed you weren't going to do that." Chuck replied, thinking back to the day when Marty suggested the act to send a message to their competition.

"When I get an idea, I go with it." She explained.

"What is it with you and cutting people's heads off?" Chuck asked, frustrated and slightly disturbed.

"In our line of work, it's really the only way to guarantee they're not coming back." That caused the subject to drop since, in his experience, he knew she was right, "We need details on where they're holding Sam and Trevor."

"I've already put something together." Stephen handed her a file and pointed a remote at one of the larger flat screens in the room. An aerial image of the grocery store appeared, "The cover for their base is the 'Spend to Save' grocery store." He switched to a thermal image, showing a large number of red blotches moving around, "My last count was thirty four but two of them disappeared early this morning. Most of them stay in the store, pretending to be shoppers. I've never seen more than seventeen of them in this area." He pointed to the portion of the map that was past the store's freezer, "This room is the only one that has had a body heat signature that hasn't moved since last night. We can assume that's where they're keeping Sarah and Trevor."

"Great." Chuck felt slightly optimistic, "Bring up the video surveillance in that room." He wanted nothing more than to see Sarah and know she was alright.

"It's not that simple Charles. I've been trying to get past their firewall since last night. Their system…I've never seen anything like it. I'm close but there's no telling when I'll finally get through."

"Then how bout we take this show on the road?" Marty suggested.

"I don't think there's room for all of us on your bike." Chuck stated sarcastically.

"Don't be ridiculous Chuck. We'll take the Shaggin' Wagon."

Minutes later, after Stephen had collected a bag of items to take with him, and Chuck managed to squeeze in a hug for his father, the trio found themselves on the street, staring at the most hideous van Chuck had ever seen. If he had to have guessed, he would have said it was at least thirty years old. And that was being kind. The majority of the paint was pale green, with the exception of the passenger door which was black, and the various spots of rust. Chuck was certain that this was going to be just like the incident he had experienced upstairs. The outside was deceiving and he just knew, when he opened the door, he was going to see a technological masterpiece filled with computers and the latest spy gear. When he slid the door open, his face dropped when instead, he saw yellow shag carpet, three bean bag chairs, and strings of beads dangling from ceiling to floor to separate the rear of the van from the front. Speaking of the ceiling, it seemed a bit low, but he chalked that up to the fact that it, and the walls, were also covered in the shag carpet, creating a sort of optical illusion. The men climbed in the back, each claiming a bean bag chair, Stephen in the one closest to the beads.

"You can't be serious." Chuck continued to look around, noticing a lava lamp sitting on the floor toward the back of the van and a smiling, double thumbs up Jesus bobble head figurine on the dashboard. He touched the carpet, "Well, I guess that explains the shag portion of Shaggin' Wagon."

Marty laughed from the driver's seat, "If you sleep better thinking that's why then sure."

He scrunched his face up in disgust, thinking of the other reasons for the name, "I have to admit. This is somewhat disappointing. I was kind of expecting something a little more…"

"High tech?" Stephen finished for him.

"Yes. Or at least something from a more recent decade." Stephen smiled as Marty started the engine but Chuck noticed they weren't moving, "What are we waiting for?" He reached forward to slide the door shut but Stephen stopped him.

"Give it a few seconds." As soon as he had spoken the words, Chuck heard the screeching of three sets of tires almost one right after the other.

When he noticed Stephen and Marty weren't concerned, he relaxed slightly until he heard the sound of several pairs of feet stomping toward the van. Seconds later, he saw Mia appear on the hood with a thud, smiling in the windshield, a split second before there was a loud thump on the side of the van as it moved with the weight of several people slamming into it. He heard several groans of complaint just before Ben, Mike, Ike, and Aubrey all appeared at the open side door. Mia sat in the passenger seat and buckled herself in while Aubrey wedged between the driver and passenger seats up front. Ben sat on the third bean bag chair toward the back of the van while Mike and Ike sat on either side of Chuck, sharing his.

He smiled up at each of them awkwardly and nodded, "Good seeing you again."

Stephen leaned forward to close the door then settled back in. He reached for several strands of the dangling beads, appearing to be careful in his selection. After giving Chuck a mischievous smile, he pulled. No sooner had he tugged on the beads than portions of the ceiling slid up and to the side, allowing flat screen monitors and keyboards, each attached to a long, slim bar, to be lowered down in front of all three chairs.

He then noticed Mia lean forward to the Jesus figurine. She flipped his head back to reveal a button. After pushing it, the dashboard on the passenger side slid down, allowing an impressive touch screen monitor to glide forward. He heard a clicking sound to his right and noticed Ben turning the lava lamp clockwise several times then counter clockwise. Finally, he tipped it over and the side carpet of the van rolled up to reveal guns of various sizes mounted to the wall. He lifted up a square portion of shag carpet and began pulling ammunition cans up from beneath the floor then started to remove the guns, one at a time, to ensure they were loaded and functioning properly.

"Awesome." Chuck said, looking around at the work stations, "What do the chairs do?" He asked, looking down excitedly at the large bean bag.

"Nothing. They're just comfortable." Stephen replied, already typing furiously on the keyboard in front of him.

Marty pulled onto the street, passing her motorcycle while two men in dark suits inspected it then looked up at the apartment building. As soon as the van was clear, and the men had walked into the building, Chuck saw Mia press a button on her monitor just before he heard a loud explosion behind them. He looked back to see that the apartment they had just been in had flames bursting from the windows.

"If that Caravaggio wasn't destroyed before, I'd say it is now." Marty called back to him.

Back at the Buy More, Casey was becoming increasingly irritated for two reasons. One, he had spent his entire day selling appliances while everyone else was out doing something exciting, that probably involved guns and high speed chases. Two, McGruff had been following him around, never leaving his side, since last night. He turned and looked at the dog, who was sitting on the couch in the home theater room, staring out at him. The only high point was the fact that he only had an hour left to his workday. From there, he'd go back to his apartment and continue to wait for word from anyone…hell, he'd even take a call from Morgan.

The line of people waiting to try out the 3D TV on display was steadily growing. He sneered at Lester who had been watching women's beach volleyball for twenty minutes, his jaw slackened and his hand reaching out in the direction of the players breasts. Finally, the fact that one TV on the wall had nothing but a red bouncing ball on it caught his attention. A message appeared at the bottom of the screen that read, 'Follow the red bouncing ball.' Casey watched as it appeared on the next screen to his right…then the next…then the next, until he finally got the picture and headed for the exit, McGruff not far behind.

Once outside, a van sped through the parking lot, screeching to a halt right in front of them. Chuck opened the side door, loud constantly changing music blaring from the inside, and motioned for him to quickly get in. With the addition of Casey and McGruff, the rear cabin had become slightly cramped.

McGruff stood behind Marty a licked her face, "McGruff, you're supposed to be with Ellie and Devon!" He whimpered, laid on the floor, and hid his face under his paws.

Chuck addressed Casey, "It took you long enough. We didn't know how long we'd have to have balls bouncing right in front of your face for you to finally notice."

Casey examined his surroundings until his eyes fell on Stephen Bartowski. He was shocked.

"Turns out my dad's alive." Chuck explained as if it were no big deal. Casey pondered it briefly, then realized the idea of someone being alive who they thought was dead wasn't exactly new to them. He moved on and leaned forward to talk to Marty.

"Your dog chewed the upholstery of the Crown Vic this morning."

"Yeah. He's a nervous eater and gets separation anxiety. Sorry about that."

The radio station kept changing before he could even register what songs were playing. He wasn't sure who was doing it since everyone in the van was sitting in front of their own monitor.

"Stop." Mike…or Ike…how was Casey supposed to know the difference, pressed a button and he recognized the familiar sounds of Metallica's 'Trapped Under Ice.' playing.

"Put it back." Mia cut in, changing it and dancing along, "Massive attack, mm Massive attack, got the bomb bombs make the whole club go back, eeeh." He wasn't sure if that was what they were actually saying but that was all he could make out.

"I don't want to listen to that crap." Aubrey declared, pressing something on Mia's console and began singing along, "Whao-Whao stuck like glue. You and me baby, we're stuck like glue."

"None of you know good music." Chuck joined in, switching to The Avett Brothers, 'I and Love and You.' Casey would never admit that he listened to the mix tape Chuck made him with this song on it. But sometimes it was nice to hear while sitting in a relaxing bubble bath, reading the latest issue of Mercenaries Monthly.

All the music stopped suddenly, "Kids…" Stephen took on the parental role, "If you can't take turns, we won't listen to anything at all. Now, who's turn is it?"

Everyone groaned, "Ben's." Ben smiled as the music selection changed to something classical, filled with pianos and violins. The mood of the van changed and everyone stared forward, bored.

The plan was explained to Casey as Marty drove them toward the 'Spend to Save' grocery store, parking just a few blocks down, in front of a park, so everyone could prepare themselves.

Chuck stared resolutely at his father, "I think I need to hear the song."

"What song?" Stephen narrowed his eyes at his son, already knowing where this conversation was headed.

"The song that will release the information from the daycare brainwashing."

"Oh! Come on!" Marty exclaimed, "Can't you just let me have the one thing that makes me special?"

"Absolutely not Charles." Stephen disputed, "You have no idea what releasing that programming will do to you."

"But it could give me the upper hand against the other intersects."

"Or it could make your brain explode from an information overload."

"Sweet." Mike and Ike said together with a smile.

"We don't know that for sure."

"We don't know anything for sure!" Stephen began listing outcomes, counting each one off by pointing to a finger, "It could do nothing…it could fry your brain…it could override the intersect becoming the primary source for information…they could cancel each other out, leaving you with nothing. And while, yes, it very well could give you more training on top of what you have with the intersect, it's too dangerous when you consider everything else. There are too many unknowns and I'm not going to let you take that chance!" They shared a heated stare.

"Fine." Chuck caved, not wanting to waste any more time, "Just get someplace safe so we can go." Stephen continued to glare at his son before releasing a hidden compartment on the back of the driver's seat and pulling a laptop out. He slid the door open and headed for the park.

"McGruff." Marty called, "Follow." She pointed to Stephen, signaling to the dog to go with him. He wined but she just pointed again. He lowered his head in disappointment and jumped down, jogging to catch up to Stephen.

Chuck slid the door shut and turned to the


	28. Chapter 28

_**Disclaimer: Don't own Loverboy…but who doesn't want to?**_

_Everyone's watching, to see what you will do. Everyone's looking at you. _

They could hear it before they saw it coming. Loverboy's infamous anthem became gradually louder as did the sound of screeching tires. It didn't take long before a hideous van turned into the grocery store parking lot, almost tipping over from the speed of the turn, proceeding to do donuts, burnouts, and figure eights in the wide open space.

_Everybody's workin' for the weekend. Everybody wants a new romance. Everybody's going off the deep end. Everybody needs a second chance._

Suddenly, it stopped, facing the store, the two inanimate objects appearing to have a stand off of sorts. The engine was revved as a handful of undercover agents peered out the glass front, aiming their weapons at the intruder. The next thing they saw was a large .50 caliber machine gun sliding up, out of the hood, pointing directly at them. The van did one last burnout before charging at the store, gun blazing and tires screaming. The glass of the windows and door was shattered as the agents took cover and returned fire with no success, the bullets simply bouncing off the van.

When the vehicle made no attempt at slowing down, the people in the store ran out of the way as it slammed into the glass front and came to a halt, still firing the .50 cal and only stopping when it ran out of ammunition. The van sat, surrounded by broken glass and wrecked product displays.

_You want a piece of my heart. You better start from the start. You want to be in the show, come on baby let's go. _

Agents circled around the vehicle and approached cautiously, guns drawn, covering the doors, waiting for anyone to step out. When they were close enough to see that there was no one in the driver's seat, they heard the sound of metal hitting the floor twice as a flash-bang grenade came rolling out on either side from the undercarriage. Before the agents could move, the grenades went off, doing damage to eardrums and eyes in the vicinity.

The song came to an end, another began to play.

_I'm not man or machine. I'm just something in between…_

As if on cue, Colonel John Casey began the next line of assault. He casually walked through the broken glass from outside, carrying his newly acquired gatling shotgun, firing it in all directions of the store, humming along to the song that was still playing in the van.

_Touch that dial. Turn me on. Start me like a motor, make me run. Lovin' every minute of it._

As Casey continued to fearlessly fire, still standing in the middle of the floor without cover, he was flanked on either side by the rest of the team, all shooting their own guns with the exception of Chuck and Marty. One taking opponents out with well aimed tranquilizer darts, the other using throwing knives. Every member of 'The Elite' was wearing a small back pack that served as their emergency kit. After enduring the various 'Dora The Explorer' Back Pack jokes from Chuck and Casey, Marty explained that their regular packs usually carried everything they needed but were too bulky for this job and anything required for survival rested in the small bags they now carried. Marty told them they'd see who was laughing when they ended up dropped in the desert somehow and her team survived while Casey and Chuck died from dehydration and exhaustion.

When Casey finally ran out of ammunition, each member of the team took a position behind a checkout counter, spreading out and choosing their targets. Chuck and Marty, who now had her swords drawn, stayed together and looked at Casey. He gave them a nod then stood with Mike and Ike, providing them with cover to run for the back of the store. They took off down the same aisle with the meat department in sight.

Before they reached their destination, two agents stepped out and blocked their path. A very goal oriented Chuck continued to run, stepped off a shelf that held spaghetti sauce, pushed himself toward the man closest to him but, instead of engaging him in a fight, he did a front handspring off the man's shoulders and kept running. The agents were so shocked at the maneuver that they didn't notice how close Marty was until her swords were in each of their midsections. She pulled them out, flipped them in her hands, stepped between and past them, slicing their sides along the way, then stabbed behind her into their backs. Again, she removed the swords and continued to follow Chuck, who was in the freezer, her swords already put away.

"Dad." Chuck spoke into his watch, "I'm in the freezer. What's your progress?"

"Still working on it. Try to locate whatever security measures they have in place. See if you can't find a way to bypass it manually"

Marty and Chuck searched the room, frantically tossing slabs of meat aside, occasionally hitting each other with them unintentionally. Chuck finally found the scanner, "Got it! It's a retinal scan."

"Right!" Marty declared and, that quickly, she took off running back into the main portion of the store. Chuck watched her leave, not sure what she was doing. He turned his attention back to the lock, trying to decide whether or not he should dismantle it or wait for his father to open the door for them. He didn't have to think long before Marty returned holding something in her hands.

"Hold these." He opened his hands and immediately regretted it once he realized where Marty had gone off to. He looked down, disgusted, and stared at the large number of eyeballs in his hands, some staring back at him. She grabbed one and held it up to the scanner. The monitor read, 'Access Denied'. She tossed the eye over her shoulder, "Not that one." Marty grabbed another to meet the same result, "Nope." She reached for two more, "Chuck." He glanced up to see that she was smiling and holding the eyes up to her own, pointing them at him, "Here's looking at you." He gave her a serious glare and her smile dropped. She returned to the process until their eye supply was depleted. Marty ran back to the doorway and yelled, "I need more eyeballs in here!"

A short while later, Aubrey appeared at the door, firing out into the store, and turned over more eyes. She took a break from her shooting match, "Hey Marty." She chuckled to herself, "Here's lookin' at you."

Marty gave Aubrey the same look Chuck had given her, "Not funny Aubrey."

She went back to the scanner and began holding eyes up to meet the same result of 'Access Denied' over and over. When they had run out a second time, before Marty could restock, they heard voices on the other side of the door. Chuck and Marty looked at each other with wide eyes then quickly moved to either side of the door, as close to the wall as they could get. It opened and a line of agents began running through, not even noticing them, heading for the main part of the store. As the last one passed, Marty lunged forward and grabbed her, covered her mouth, and pulled her back through the door, into the hallway. Chuck grabbed a large slab of meat and wedged it between the open door and the frame, just in case any of the others had free time and wanted to join them. He followed Marty and the agent down the corridor, the woman struggling unsuccessfully until they came to the second door.

"Open it." Chuck ordered, not recognizing the locking mechanism.

"I'd rather die first." The next thing he knew, her body went limp and Marty was dragging it over to the door.

"Are you capable of doing anything other than kill people?" Chuck asked, furious.

Marty struggled with the body, "She's not dead. Help me hold her up." Chuck grabbed the woman under the shoulders as Marty pricked her finger dripped blood on the slide. It disappeared into the wall and, seconds later, the door opened. Marty took the agent from Chuck and let her drop clumsily to the floor, using her body to hold the door open. The second they stepped through, Stephen called over their comms, "Ok. I'm in."

"So are we Dad. Keep an eye out for us."

"Will do…McGruff! Come!" Chuck heard Stephen yell but didn't stop to think anything of it as he and Marty proceeded cautiously, heading for the room where they knew Sarah and Trevor were being held.

"Stop." Stephen called to the duo, "Go back. The area just before their cell is being guarded by four agents. It's too dangerous."

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Chuck asked Marty, studying their surroundings instead of looking at her.

"Reunion." She replied, neither heeding Stephen's advice, continuing on.

They reached the open space he was referring to, the hall that led to Sarah and Trevor in sight, but first came face to face with four members of their daycare graduating class. Three women and one man. The pair stood, with fists raised, each in a fighting stance, staring down the people who Marty's mother had spent her life protecting, none of them Owen or his brother.

"So, they're all intersects?" Marty asked Chuck, not breaking eye contact with one of the agents.

"Yeah."

"And that makes them…"

"Very dangerous." Chuck finished the statement for her.

"Go find Sarah and Trevor." Marty stated, continuing to glare at the same agent.

"What are you going to do?" Chuck looked at her with concern and noticed she had her swords drawn.

"I'm going to go all Optimus Prime in this bitch."

"No, Marty. You can't. You don't have a chance here."

"I don't have to win. I just have to keep them busy for about three minutes."

Chuck got her meaning and started to move away, heading for the corridor that would lead him to Sarah. Another agent made to move after him.

"Let him go. Tyler and Owen wanted him for themselves." The agent Marty had been staring at stated.

"Heather Adams." The woman flinched slightly, signaling to Marty that it was, in fact, her name, "I have issues with that name. I'm about to take a whole lot of Heather anger out on you." She stated, referring to the fact that it was shared with The Slut and that this was the woman who had tortured her sister

The agents moved to attack her but she held a sword up, telling them to wait. She slowly moved the sword into the same hand the other was in as Chuck disappeared down a hallway then pulled her phone from her back pocket with her free hand. She scrolled through the phone briefly before choosing a song. 'J'attendrai' began filling the open space between her and her opponents. She put the phone down and slid it away, "Hope you don't mind. It's my pump up song."

Chuck easily found the cell where Sarah and Trevor were being held. The door wasn't even locked and he knew that wasn't a good sign. He rushed forward to Sarah. Much like Trevor, her head was down, shoulders slumped, and blood surrounded them on the floor. Their clothes were also covered in blood and Chuck could see where she had been stabbed. He knelt in front of her and took her face in his hands.

"Sarah. Can you hear me? Wake up."

He heard Stephen's voice before Sarah's, "Owen and Tyler are on their way to your location son. Get out of there."

"Chuck?" Sarah asked, barely above a whisper.

"Yeah, it's me. I'm going to get you out of here." He reached behind her to see how she was bound to discover handcuffs. Not the standard police issue handcuffs. These were something different entirely. They were thicker, black metal and had an electronic release instead of a key.

"Chuck. What are you doing here?" Sarah asked, her head bobbling around, trying to remain conscious.

Chuck grabbed her face again to steady it and stared into her barely open eyes, "I'm here to save you."

She smiled slightly, "By yourself?"

"No" Chuck stood and looked around the room for the device that would open the handcuffs, "Casey and the rest of Trevor's team are on some kind of killing spree and Marty's keeping the other intersects busy."

Sarah mumbled quietly, "They blame you for their father's death. We're the one's who turned over the Trojan cipher to him."

"That wasn't our fault. That was Fulcrum." Chuck defended.

"Yes, but you just can't reason with two young men who've lost their father." He looked up to see Owen and Tyler standing at the door, "Looking for this?" Owen held up the controller that would release Sarah. Chuck stood quickly and Owen pressed a button, causing her to cry out in pain.

"What happened to your father wasn't our fault. We had no idea what that cipher would do."

"Then I guess you should have done a little more research before you handed it off to him." Tyler said.

"So, all of this, is just because of an accident?"

"No." Owen countered, pressing the button again, to meet the same result of Sarah screaming, "This was our father's last wish." Chuck was confused by the statement until Owen continued, "Since I was in the CIA, I was granted permission to clear out his personal effects from his office. I just wanted to be closer to him, to see what he had been working on at the time, so I logged on to his computer. It only took me two tries to figure out the password. Your file came up Chuck. You know what it said? To be terminated immediately. A member of your team had been given orders to kill you and yet, here you stand, alive and well while we didn't even have a body to bury."

"Those orders were cancelled because they needed me. Director Graham just didn't have time to change my file."

"Didn't have time or was dead?" Owen asked angrily as the brothers stepped toward Chuck but he held his hands up.

"Wait!" They stopped, "How did you recreate the intersect?" Chuck asked.

"You're stalling." Tyler called him out.

"Maybe. But, unless you explain things to me, I'm just going to assume we all made it here on dumb luck."

"It wasn't luck!" Owen exclaimed, "We planned all this."

"Feels like luck to me." Chuck replied.

Tyler answered, "I'm with ARC but my concealment assignment was with The Ring. When Sullivan sent me in to clean up their mess, I saw the intersect and regeneration technology they had and sent my team in to extract it after I took their asset to a safer location." Chuck smiled at the term 'asset' realizing they had no idea they had saved his father's life, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing. How did you know about the others?"

It was Owen's turn, "Our father told us what happened to us when we were kids. He even told us the identities of the other children. When we saw your file, then heard about Shaw, we knew there was a connection. Once ARC's intersect was built, we brought the others in."

"One last question…Your watches?" Chuck gestured to the Governors.

"I kept an eye on the asset, befriended him, asked what he was working on. Then, one day, there was a security breach. I took his drawings-"

"And ran back to ARC with your tail between your legs." Chuck finished for him.

Tyler turned to Owen, "Can we kill him now?"

"Yes." The men turned and headed for Chuck.

He held his hands up one more time and they stopped, "Before I forget, that asset who's life you saved, that was my father." The faces of the brothers dropped, filling with more anger than Chuck knew anyone was able to hold, "So… thanks for that."

To say Marty wasn't doing well was an understatement. One eye was swollen shut, she had blood coming out of several orifices, she was laying on the ground, and the four agents were taking turns kicking her as she mumbled something.

"What was that?" The man asked shortly before he kicked her in the ribs.

"I said…" She spit out blood, "Nobody liked you Scott." She made it up to a kneeling position and looked up at him, "You always smelled like pee and you're whore of a mother always brought in granola instead of cupcakes on your birthday." His face washed over with anger as he moved to hit her again. She held her hand up to stop him, "Wait…Wait. Listen. This is my favorite part." She smiled and sang the final line of the song that had been playing for what felt like hours, "Et pourtant j'attendrai ton retour."

The second the song ended, the four agents dropped to the ground, holding their heads in pain, noses bleeding. Marty appeared optimistic until they all stood with angry but determined looks on their faces.

"Crap." She managed to stand and grabbed one of her swords that was laying nearby, the other one long gone.

The four agents surrounded her and the first, a woman, punched for her face. Marty easily dodged the fist, grabbed the hand, pulled and, at the same time, stabbed her sword straight through her gut. Both women looked down and the other's stood shocked.

"Someone isn't so special anymore." Marty almost sang as she pulled the sword out and quickly swung it to her right toward Scott's head. He managed to block the attack but Marty brought her knee up, into his ribs twice, head butted him, then swung the sword down, cutting behind his leg. The injury caused him to kneel down just as she roundhouse kicked him in the face, knocking him out.

Two women remained. Heather Adams and some other chick who was about to be dead, Marty thought to herself. She decided to go with the other woman first, saving Heather for last. Before she even had the chance to attack her, the woman took off running, back to the freezer to escape. Marty let her go, keeping her eyes on Heather.

"I hear you and my sister spent a lot of time together."

Heather decided not to let the loss of the intersect stop her from taking on Marty. When Owen and Tyler had found her, she had just gotten out of the army and was teaching martial arts. She smugly thought to herself that she was pretty good at what she did, "Spent some time with your brother too." She smirked.

"He's not my brother. He's my husband. And, the last chick who touched him got her head hacked off." Marty returned as Heather's smirk dropped, "But, I'll give you better odds." She tossed her sword aside.

Heather tried to kick Marty's leg but Marty kicked just as hard in return. The women's shins met with a thud and Heather was the one to limp out of it as Marty smiled. Heather recovered and swung her right hand for Marty's face. She was met with a double block, Marty's left hand kept hold of Heather's wrist and her right slid down the arm to crash into her neck. The hand then grabbed her shoulder, and bent her over so Marty could knee her in the face.

Heather was dazed but still unwilling to give up. She attempted a roundhouse kick to Marty's ribs but Marty absorbed the blow, grabbed the leg with her left arm then used her right to come down like a hammer on Heather's knee cap. She dropped to the ground in pain and the final blow was delivered.

Marty jumped up and used all of her weight in the force of the punch, bringing her fist down and across Heather's face. The woman instantly fell to the ground completely, "Flash on that, bitch." Marty grabbed her crotch and spit on the body, bent down and grabbed her sword, then stumbled for the hallway she saw Chuck go down in hopes of helping him. Although, with the shape she was in, she wasn't sure how much help she'd actually be. She faintly heard the racking of a slide on a pistol and, before she could turn, a shot was fired and a body hit the ground.


	29. Chapter 29

Marty heard the yelp before she could make it fully around to see what happened behind her, "MCGRUFF!" She screamed when she realized the dog had made it through to her location and just jumped in front of a bullet for her. Her eyes quickly made their way to Heather, who was sitting up, a gun in her hand. Before she had the chance to pull the trigger again, Marty threw her sword across the room, lodging it into the woman's heart. She fell back to the ground, dead. Marty ran to McGruff and put her hands over his wound, trying to stop the blood flow as he whimpered.

"You'll be ok…it's ok…it's ok." She leaned down and rested her head on his, not sure if she was trying to comfort him or herself as tears began to fall.

Chuck had faced multiple opponents before but never more than one who had the same abilities as he did. It was proving to be a challenge. Tyler had started by pulling a gun out right away and pointing it at Chuck's face but Owen reminded him that one, there wouldn't be as much satisfaction involved and two, it would be much too quick and painless. He reasoned that Chuck didn't deserve either of the two. They wanted to make him suffer. Sure, they had hired trained assassins to kill him and cut off his head without giving much thought to torture first but, they both agreed, if they were ever in the position to inflict great amounts of pain on him personally, they would.

The men closed in on Chuck and they all took their turns flashing, defending, flashing, attacking, over and over. At one point, Tyler managed to wrap his hands around Chuck's throat, pinning him to the wall, as Owen continuously punched him in the stomach. Chuck intertwined his arms with Tyler's and twisted until his hold was broken. He brought his elbow up and made contact with Owen's face twice then used the fist of the same arm to turn back and punch Tyler. For it being two against one, he felt he really wasn't doing too bad for himself and gained a short lived sense of confidence as he continued on after Tyler, Owen following closely behind.

Sarah and, a now conscious, Trevor struggled to get free as Owen grabbed Chuck and put him in a full nelson just before he was able to reach Tyler who, was alternately throwing punches at Chuck's wide open mid section and face. Chuck jumped, brought his legs up, and kicked Tyler in the chest as hard as he could. He then pushed Owen back and slammed him into the wall, reached down with his right hand, and peeled Owen's right hand off his neck by simply grabbing one finger and pulling it back. Tyler recuperated and came charging back in. He brought his leg up in an attempt to drive his foot into Chuck's stomach but, with Owen's grasp weakened, Chuck moved at the right moment and, instead, Tyler's foot slammed into his brother. Owen doubled over from the pain of the blow and Chuck used his head as a battering ram, drilling it into Tyler's stomach, causing him to bend over as well. He then straightened Owen up and used the back of his head to smack into Tyler's face.

Chuck reached into Owen's pocket and pulled the controller for the handcuffs out. Before he could use it, Tyler brought his arm down on Chuck's, knocking the remote to the floor. Sarah, more awake then before eyed the object.

"Trevor, the remote." Trevor turned his head to see what she was talking about while Chuck continued his battle with the brothers, "Maybe if we scoot at the same time." She suggested but knew it would be a difficult task considering their legs were tied to the chair legs and their chairs were tied together, "On three…one, two, three." They both attempted a scoot but barely moved half an inch. The remote was still at least four feet away, "Again…one, two, three." They moved again, but only slightly, forty seven more inches to go.

Ben cautiously moved through the corridor. He left the others who were making countless jokes about, 'Clean up on aisle five', and decided to find Marty to see if she needed any help. Maybe a little consoling if they were too late and her husband didn't make it. He came to the end of the hallway and saw a woman laying in the middle of the doorway. He wasn't sure if she was dead but he wasn't going to stop to check. He stepped over her and continued on. When he reached Marty, he saw four human bodies on the ground and his friend hunched over the body of McGruff, crying and pressing the sleeve she had ripped from her shirt to his wound.

He rushed to her side and pulled out his first aid kit, "What happened?"

"The one time I don't cut someone's head off my dog ends up shot." She looked up, in the direction he came from, "Where's everyone else?"

"Taking prisoners, securing the area, and making tasteless jokes." He replied moving her shaking hands out of the way and replacing the shirt with a gauze pad. McGruff whined again at the pressure.

"I have to go help Chuck. I need you to make sure he's ok."

"I'll do what I can."

"No. You'll make sure he's ok." She replied, not accepting any other answer.

"I will." He promised as Marty rubbed McGruff behind the ear one last time before she took off in search of Chuck, Sarah, and Trevor. McGruff whined again but, this time, out of worry for Marty and not the pain.

The battle had gone on long enough, no one was getting anywhere, and Owen decided that Tyler's initial approach was the best way to do things. He drew his gun and pointed it at Chuck who had no choice but to raise his hands in surrender since he was across the room from them. The intersect could make him do many things but, flying across a room faster than a bullet, was not one of those things. Sarah looked up from her attempt at reaching the remote, still about three feet away, and her eyes grew wide with panic.

"No, please…don't." She begged, "You want pay back then kill me."

"Sarah, stop." Chuck ordered, not liking her reasoning.

Owen never took his eyes off Chuck but Tyler looked at the woman as if she had lost her mind, "Excuse me?"

"Sarah!" Chuck warned again.

"You want him to know pain and how you felt when you lost your father…kill me. I'm the most important person in the world to him. If I die his life will end, he's said so himself.

"I've heard it." Trevor added in.

"Just think about it…days before his wedding, you murder his bride." Sarah had never tried harder to get shot.

"That's the stuff movies of the week are made of." Why was Trevor agreeing with her? Then Chuck realized, while Sarah, very well, could be trying to get herself killed in his place, Trevor was trying to confuse them and stall for time.

"She has a point." Tyler turned to Owen, "Maybe we've been going about this all wrong."

"No! No…no, you haven't. I'm the one you want. My life for your father's. It's fair." Chuck pleaded, never lifting his gaze from Sarah.

"Eye for an eye. I can see his point." Trevor agreed.

Chuck finally looked at Owen, "Listen to me…I have an entire team of assassins with me and do you know what they're doing? They're killing your entire army in the frozen food section."

"No." Owen argued.

Trevor continued with his commentary, "I believe it. They're good at what they do." He laughed to himself, "Clean up on aisle two." It was scary how they all had the same sense of humor.

"And your intersects? They're all dead too."

Owen continued to shake his head, "No."

"Really? Have you seen or heard from any of them lately?" Trevor asked.

"It's just a matter of time before my team comes bursting through that door." Chuck added.

"Your team?" Trevor looked over his shoulder at Chuck.

He ignored him, "Then, you know what's going to happen? You and your brother will both be dead too."

"Then you better not waste any time. Kill me and leave." Sarah called from her seat.

"What is with you two and self sacrifice? If someone held a gun on me, you know what Marty would say? He's a tough guy, make sure you put a few in him…aim for the head." Chuck wasn't sure if he was joking or not.

"I know!" Chuck exclaimed, "A bullet is too good for me…too quick. You said it yourselves. The three of us can leave and you can decide on the road what you want to do with me." His main reasoning being that he didn't want Sarah to have to watch him die.

"No!" She wasn't going to make it easy, "Take me."

"You could do me a favor and take them both." Trevor suggested.

"That's enough!" Owen called, fed up with the banter, "You." He pointed to Chuck, "Out the door."

"No!" Sarah cried again.

"One minute, please?" Chuck asked, gesturing to Sarah. Owen and Tyler looked resistant, "Just…let me say goodbye to her and I'll go anywhere you want me to." Owen rolled his eyes but signaled that it was alright.

Trevor was confused by the nature of this revenge relationship, "You know, for bad guys, you certainly are accommodating."

Chuck knelt down in front of Sarah who was shaking her head, pleading with him not to go. He held her face in his hands to stop her movement and kissed her for what he assumed was going to be the last time. Sadly, most of their kisses recently had been based around the belief that it was going to be their last. This time, he wasn't sure it wasn't. He broke the kiss and pressed his forehead to hers, allowed his hand to tangle in her hair and whispered, "Let me go." The same words he had spoken to her the previous night but, this time, he prayed she would be more receptive to them.

He pulled back from her and she began shaking her head again, tears falling freely from her eyes, "No!"

Chuck turned away from her and stepped out the door, to Owen and Tyler, both men pointing guns at him. He tried to turn down the hall to the main entrance. The way he came in…the way he knew Casey and everyone else was waiting for them. His one last hope of survival. Owen grabbed his collar and pulled him in the opposite direction instead, "Our ride is this way." And, just like that, hope was a thing of the past.

"Chuck!" Sarah screamed one last time before she and Trevor began frantically trying to reach the remote, counting to three over and over rapidly, and barely moving with each attempt. Not more than a minute into their efforts, Marty came running up to the door and saw her two favorite people, covered in their own and maybe even each other's blood. Sarah looked up at the sound of footsteps entering and grew hopeful at the sight of her sister, "Chuck! They have him! We need you to get that remote and let us go!" Sarah used her head to point to the floor and Marty's eyes followed. Instead of assisting them, she turned out of the room quickly in search of Chuck and her boyfriend. She had a feeling today was going to be the day they broke up.

"Wait!" Sarah called, "Get us out of here! Marty!"

Trevor ended her screaming, "She was never going to release us. She thinks we're safer here."

"She's an idiot!" Sarah spat over her shoulder as she continued to struggle. Casey entered the room at that moment, "Casey! That remote over there, get it and figure out what button to press to get us out of here." Casey's eyes shot to the device and picked it up quickly, studying it for a moment. There were several choices and Sarah and Trevor both prepared themselves for a shock in case he was wrong. Luckily, he pressed the right key and they were set free. They reached down and untied their legs then all ran in the direction Marty and Chuck went in. The path was direct and simply led to a stairwell. They went up one flight to see a door marked, 'Roof Access'. Sarah didn't hesitant to fling the door open just in time to see a helicopter taking off, already a few feet up and away from the building. She tried to run after it but Casey held her back. The next thing she saw was her sister, running full force and leaping, reaching for the leg of the chopper. And why the hell was she wearing that back pack? Her heart stopped for the split second it took for Marty to make contact and grab the metal bar, but just barely. Sarah looked up and saw that no one inside noticed the woman dangling on the outside. There was a flash of lightening, followed by the loud boom of thunder, which gave way to a downpour of rain. Casey, Sarah, and Trevor had no choice but to stand in the storm and watch as the helicopter flew off into the unknown.


	30. Chapter 30

"So…guys…where we headed?" Chuck asked from his seat in the back of the helicopter, right next to Owen in the cramped space, his gun still in his hand but laying on his lap, relaxed. They had barely been in the air for a minute and the storm was already getting worse. Chuck wasn't sure how Tyler, the pilot, even managed to see two feet in front of him. For all he knew, they were headed straight for a mountain range, skyscraper, or even one of those malpractice lawyer billboards. He wondered if he could sue for negligent helicopter piloting in the event of an accident until he realized, any accident in this chopper would result in his death. Then again, he'd be dead when they landed anyway. Would death by helicopter crash be any better than death by whatever means Tyler and Owen had been dreaming up?

"You'll find out soon enough." Owen answered with a sick grin forming on his lips. It was then, Chuck decided, death by helicopter crash would be preferable.

He leaned toward the window closest to him to see if he could make out any clues as to where they were headed. Nothing was visible straight ahead, maybe he could catch something on the ground beneath him and that's when he saw it. A leg flailing around…no, make that two legs flailing around. He leaned further, pressing his face as firmly to the glass as he could, trying to get a better view of the body attached to the legs.

He could see the person was holding on with just their hands wrapped around the landing skid. He prayed that it was anyone but Sarah. He'd even take a third intersect agent who almost missed their ride when they took off.

One of the hands slipped, leaving whoever it was holding on by just one. The owner of the hand looked up and smiled brightly through the storm, her clothes soaking wet and her hair plastered to her head from the rain…Marty. He wasn't sure whether he should be concerned or relieved to see her. Concerned because she was dangling precariously from a metal bar, in a torrential downpour and, although he had no idea where the ground was, he was sure they were pretty high up now. She could be as elite as she wanted to be but he knew she couldn't fly. Relieved because one, his prayers were answered and it wasn't Sarah. She was still back at the ARC base, hopefully being rescued by Casey. Two, because he knew he wasn't alone and there was a slight feeling of security in that. She wrapped her other hand back around the landing skid and, the next thing he knew, she was in a sitting position, straddling the bar, low enough that he could see her but his two travel companions couldn't.

Marty took the chance of releasing her grip on the bar to wave her hands around wildly at Chuck. He stared at her, confused as to what she was doing until the familiar feeling of a flash set in and he translated her words. It was Sign Language, 'Sarah's safe.' She knew that was his first concern and was glad for her saying so until she finished with, 'I think," and shrugged. Before she could continue, Tyler jerked the helicopter up, narrowly missing…yes, a billboard. The unexpected movement caused Marty to loose her balance and fall sideways, resulting in her being upside down, hanging from the bar with just her legs to hold on.

Chuck turned quickly to his captors, "Perhaps, this isn't the best time to be flying. Maybe we should land, let the storm pass, and give it a go another time. I mean…no one can say we didn't try, right?" His request was left unanswered and he subtly turned his attention back to the window. Marty was back up, straddling the landing skid, looking very frustrated. She began signing again, this time with one hand, one letter at a time.

When Sarah, Casey, and Trevor made their way back inside the ARC base, she was surprised to see the remainder of Marty's team huddled around a body with several EMT's. She could see they were banged up themselves, bruised and bleeding, some wounds she recognized as bullet holes, but they all refused medical help, insisting all of the attention go to whoever it was they surrounded. Sarah surveyed the room, noting that there was no one unaccounted for. She took in the sight of Heather on the ground, a sword buried in her chest, and checked her off of her own list of people to kill for hurting her sister.

An EMT looked up at Mia, "I'm sorry, there really isn't anything we can do."

She pointed her gun at his head, "Then you haven't tried hard enough."

"You need to let us take care of your injuries. This is a lost cause."

Aubrey replied, "Get out of the way and let someone else try." The man backed away slowly, revealing enough of the body for Sarah to see it was McGruff, surrounded by blood…too much blood. Trevor rushed forward and she wondered why the people who killed so ruthlessly were so adamant about saving a dog's life. Sarah understood why she would, she knew how important he was to her sister, that Marty herself would probably die to protect him and that meant Sarah would do everything in her power to save him. But why would they?

"Devon and Ellie," She called to the group, "Where are they?"

Trevor spoke up, "We sent them to Disneyland." Sarah and Casey narrowed their eyes at him in confusion, "Who would look for them at the most magical place on earth?" His question was the explanation.

"Get him into an ambulance and to-." Sarah began the order.

"Cinderella's Castle." Trevor quickly completed it. The EMT's shot questioning looks to one another.

Mia raised her weapon again, "You heard the lady." She waved the gun signaling them to get a move on. They carefully lifted McGruff and placed him on a stretcher, then raced out the door all knowing it was pointless.

Trevor rejoined Sarah and Casey as Stephen Bartowski rushed in, shortly after, soaking wet and carrying his laptop, "They're headed for the Pacific!" Sarah stared at him in shock.

"One of the islands?" Casey asked, not surprised to see the presumed dead man at all. Casey knew there was no where else in the Pacific Ocean a helicopter could reach other than the Channel Islands. That narrowed it down to eight possible locations, three if you rule out the five that make up the National Park. But then again, maybe those were the five they should be examining further. If they were headed for another ARC base then where would a better place to hide it be than in a national park?

"Mr. Bartowski?" Sarah asked, finally able to form the question.

"Hello Sarah."

She turned to Casey, expecting there to be, at least, a small amount of surprise. There wasn't. He merely shrugged, "Old news."

Stephen pointed up, "Our ride is here."

When they reached the roof, they saw another helicopter, this one with markings for the US Coast Guard, waiting for them. The group jogged out through the storm and climbed aboard, grabbing headsets and putting them on.

Chuck received Marty's message loud and clear. The space in the cabin of the chopper was confined, no room for both of them to take on the brothers but Marty could provide the right distraction to give Chuck the advantage…Phase One. How she got over to Owen's side of the aircraft, Chuck will never know but, there she was, staring in at the man. Owen was oblivious to her presence until she tapped on the glass and smiled at him. Her voice was muffled but Chuck could make out her words as lightning flashed behind her, "There's some-thing…on…the wing." He could hear the hint of a William Shatner impersonation and Marty quickly dropped down, disappearing.

By the time Owen registered what was going on, and he brought his gun up, Chuck took his chance…Phase Two. He grabbed the arm holding the weapon and jerked it away from the window then forced Owen to fire several shots into the control panel in front of them.

Tyler ducked down, covering his head, looking back briefly but still trying to control the helicopter as warning tones sounded from the instrument panel. Chuck continued his assault on Owen, the size of the cabin really only allowing for well placed knees and elbows. Marty opened the door on Owen's side, allowing Chuck to pin his arm between the door and the frame, leaving Marty to slam the door on his arm, causing the gun to drop into the ocean below…Phase Three complete. She leaned down and bit his arm for good measure before Chuck pulled him back up and continued his assault. The door shut and, this time, remained shut. Marty disappeared again to begin Phase Four.

Chuck knew Owen was just about done, "Oh. And Marty asked me to tell you that things aren't working out. She wants to see other people." His fist flew forward into Owen's face, knocking him unconscious.

Without turning to check on his brother, Tyler called back, "I can't control this thing anymore!" Indicating to Chuck that Marty had completed Phase Four by disabling the controls. He knew this would cause Tyler to turn his attention away from piloting long enough to go after Chuck as a last ditch effort to kill him himself. In that moment, Marty would fix the controls, take over as pilot, and get them all to safety…Phase Five. Tyler turned back to Chuck, aiming his gun at his face.

"Well, if we're both going to die anyway, I may as well have the satisfaction of killing you myself." Chuck smiled knowing, if nothing else, these brothers were predictable.

"Then come on back and give it a shot." Chuck challenged. As soon as Trevor lunged for him in the back row, a rain soaked Marty quickly opened the pilots door and took over the controls.

"Good news, bad news Chuck." Marty stated, pressing buttons and flipping switches in desperation.

Tyler was temporarily distracted from their wrestling match when he heard a fourth person in the helicopter with them. Chuck took advantage of that distraction, knocked the gun from his hand, grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher, and smashed it into Tyler's head, knocking him out as well, "Good news." He requested as he leaned forward to Marty, wondering why she wasn't trying to navigate them to safety as Phase Five called for.

"Phases one through four were successful…yaaaaaaaay." She didn't sound very enthusiastic in her cheer as she halfheartedly waved her hands in the air.

"Bad news."

"Phase five is a no go. Whatever caused the controls to stop working wasn't done by me and I couldn't fix it. We're going down."

They were all going to die. Chuck swallowed nervously, closing his eyes and allowing a flash of a different kind to fill his brain, focusing mostly on Sarah. Their first kiss, cover dates filled with brief moments that made them feel real, a Paris hotel room, watching her sleep, a proposal in a hospital waiting room…His only assurance was knowing Owen and Tyler were going to be buried at sea with him, leaving her safe and no one left to seek revenge against. She'd have no choice but to live a normal life and let him go. Morgan had received very direct orders to ensure such an outcome.

As the chopper began spiraling down, toward the rough waters below, Chuck felt a hand on his shoulder. Did Marty really think a comforting hand on the shoulder was going to make this moment more bearable? Then he felt himself being pulled out the door, into the storm just before the crash.

"We've lost their signal." Sarah heard over her headset. She knew that could only mean two things. Either they disabled their navigation system, to keep themselves from being followed or there was nothing to follow. This thought caused a crack to form in her heart. The next thing she heard made the crack continue to grow, resulting in a complete break, "The storm is getting worse. It's too dangerous to continue pursuit."

"What? No!" Sarah called over her headset, refusing to give up.

The pilot glanced back at her then turned his attention back to the controls, "I'm sorry ma'am. We've lost the signal. There's no way to track them…if there's anything left to track."

"You can't just quit. They're still out there!" Trevor called, Sarah was speechless as the reality of the situation sunk in.

"In a storm like this, even if they are out there, whatever is left to find can wait until the weather's cleared." The pilot replied.

How could he be so callous about the situation? So casual about telling her there was no hope…then she realized they had no idea who these people are, maybe if he did, he'd keep looking, "Please? It's my sister and my…my husband." Because, as far as she was concerned, he already was. Sarah felt the breath force itself from her lungs at the word 'husband' and the pieces of her heart dropped down to her gut. He couldn't be dead. And Marty…in a rare moment of concern and compassion, Casey wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

The pilot's tone softened but his resolve didn't, "I'm sorry. I can't risk more lives. We'll try again when the storm clears."

"We have to keep looking." Sarah looked up, into Casey's eyes, pleading.

"We will." He assured and was true to his word once the helicopter landed and the crew began climbing out. They turned back in time to see the limp body of the pilot being pushed out as Casey slid into the pilot's seat, immediately lifting back into the air, smiling at the crew. The group braved the storm and searched the water below until they ran out of fuel and had to return to land, intending to refuel and resume their search. Their plans were cut short when several agents met them at the fuel station and forced their surrender on General Beckman's orders.

They were escorted back to their apartment complex and monitored to ensure they wouldn't try to leave again. Even Beckman thought the worst and didn't want the rest of her team at risk in the pursuit of a lost cause. Several attempts at escape were made, all in vain considering the complex was swarming with agents under direct orders to do whatever it took to keep them away from the search. Trevor had been tazered to the point of unconscious, Casey tranqued, Stephen was stripped of his computer, and Sarah, after being deemed the most dangerous of the four, earned her very own five man restraint team.


	31. Chapter 31

_Supesfan18...are you psychic? Cause you're freakin' me out man. _

It had been three days since she'd seen them last. Three days of feeling helpless…three days of no sleep…three days of not knowing. Frankly, she was sick of it. When the storm finally cleared, it was no longer a search and rescue mission, it had been downgraded to recovery. Body and wreckage recovery. No one had been allowed in or out of the apartment complex since their imprisonment began three days ago…three days of hoping despite being told there was no hope to be had. Even if they had survived the impact of the helicopter crash, they didn't stand much of a chance against the violent water, the blistering sun, no fresh water, no food, and temperature drops at night. With no way to stay afloat, as far as rescuers were concerned, Chuck and Marty were written off as shark bait.

Sarah glumly made her way from the bedroom to the living room, followed by her restraint team, to see Casey reading a fourth Ronald Reagan biography while Trevor stared at a ring he held between his pointer finger and thumb. He drew his attention away from it and held it up to her, "It's her tracking device. I found it just after she burned our house down." He smiled sadly before continuing, "I tried to put it back on her finger when I got here but, her relationship with Owen prevented her from wearing it." Sarah took it and gazed at her sister's wedding band, wondering if she'd ever wear one. Not just any wedding band, one that Chuck placed on her finger, "She told me to keep it safe for her until after the wedding. If I had made her put it back on, we'd know where they are. Hell, they'd probably be here right now."

"This isn't your fault." Sarah tried to comfort him, putting the ring back in his hand and wrapping his fingers around it.

Stephen rushed into the living room, "The Navy reported that a body and some wreckage washed up on the shore of San Nicolas."

"How did you find out about that?" One of Sarah's team asked, "We took your computer."

Stephen turned to the man, not wanting bother answering him but doing so anyway in a quickly spoken, irritated statement, "Yes, you took my computer but you left everything I needed to piece together the radio I've been using to monitor the Coast Guard communication channels. I'm kind of a genius gentlemen. If you want to keep me from being informed, you're going to have to do a little more than take a computer away from me." Ending the conversation, he turned back to Sarah who was waiting not so patiently.

"Who's body?" She asked, the pieces of her heart feeling as if they were pounding at separate paces. Half for Chuck, the other half for Marty. What if one survived but the other didn't? If she had to choose, who's life would she wish to have been spared? What if neither of them made it? What then?

"All they said was that it was male."

"That's it?"

"Well, there was considerable amounts of bloating and…" Stephen seemed uncomfortable continuing, "Chunks were missing…fish food." He explained.

"San Nicolas is a owned and operated by the Navy. Do you think ARC has a base there?" Casey asked.

"If they did, the Navy would never admit it." Stephen replied, "But I'd say, unless they overshot Santa Barbara or were way off getting to one of the other islands, it's safe to assume that was their destination."

Before anymore words could be exchanged, each member of Sarah's restraint team quickly lifted a hand the ear that held their headsets and listened carefully. They rushed to the windows, looking out, guns at the ready.

"What is it?" Casey asked, no weapon but prepared for a fight. Only one body washed up on shore after all. If it was Chuck, that left two threats to the people in this house, if it wasn't, there was still at least one man to be on alert for and all it takes is one man to start an army. They learned that three days ago.

"Something is taking our men out. Get away from the windows." A female agent ordered as the rest of the team continued to stand watch. Sarah, Trevor, Casey, and Stephen backed up slightly but stayed behind the agents.

There was silence in the house, everyone holding their breath, staring out the windows and waiting for the attack that could possibly be the end of all of them. The complex had been surrounded by at least twenty men, after all. What are five agents going to do to protect them from whatever took them all out.

"What are we looking at?" The voice came from over their shoulders and was recognized by everyone but Sarah's team right away.

"Chuck." She exhaled in relief, her smile spreading past her ears, and turned suddenly to see him and Marty standing behind them, also looking out the window curiously. She threw herself into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. When she had enough of the choke hold, she pulled back and began covering his face in frantic kisses. Trevor rushed forward, taking Marty in his arms, and lifting her off the ground.

"They said you were dead." Sarah said to Chuck between kisses.

"They were mistaken." He answered.

She pulled back again but held his face in her hands, content to just stare into his eyes, smiling down at him from her position, still completely wrapped around him.

Casey asked, "How did you get back?"

Chuck broke his eye contact with Sarah as Marty pulled only slightly away from Trevor. The two shared a quick smile and turned back to Casey. In their best Jack Sparrow impersonations, they simultaneously said, "Sea turtles, mate."

"Dear God…they've bonded." Casey declared, worried at the possibility of two Chuck Bartowski's…or was it two Marty…whoever she was? He never cared enough to retain her last name. Maybe it was a hybrid of the two. If Marty began fixing computers and wearing a pocket protector, while Chuck indiscriminately started chopping off people's heads, he knew they were in trouble.

"The life raft under the pilot's seat." Stephen stated, piecing together their return.

"What?" Sarah asked, pulling herself from kissing Chuck again.

"Just about every aircraft keeps an emergency life raft under the pilot's seat in the event of water landings…or crashes, as the case may be."

"But, it was still three days with no food or water." Sarah turned her concerned gaze back to Chuck.

He smiled reassuringly and modestly replied, "Well, I wouldn't say no food or water."

Trevor looked down at Marty, smiling proudly, "Your pack."

"Yeah…" Chuck answered for her, "Casey, those back packs are no joke and I think you owe Marty an apology for making fun of it. I already gave her mine when she pulled out the water purifier." Chuck said.

"The sun?" Sarah examined Chuck for any signs of burns or dehydration.

"The pack." Marty explained.

"Remind me to never make fun of anyone wearing SPF 100 again." Chuck smiled.

"The cold at night?" Sarah couldn't understand how they made it back perfectly healthy and unscathed.

"Well, we dealt with that two ways. See, the raft didn't have any paddles." Chuck began to explain.

"We were up the ocean without a paddle." Marty added.

"So, we took the rope she had in her pack and made a harness with it. Then took turns stripping our clothes off-" Sarah gave Chuck a questioning look.

"We wanted them to stay dry and it wasn't anything we both hadn't already seen." Marty explained as Trevor glared at Chuck again.

"Exactly. So, we stripped down, put on the harness, and took turns swimming the boat back to shore. The exercise kept us warm and, when it wasn't our turn to swim, we dried off with a Sham-Wow-"

"The pack." Marty explained before anyone could ask.

Chuck continued, "Put our clothes back on, then sat in the boat wrapped in a mylar blanket…also in the pack."

"This guy," Marty pointed to Chuck, "Is a wicked strong swimmer."

"Stop. You're embarrassing me." He waved the hand he wasn't using to hold Sarah up with at her.

"How did you know which way to go?" It was Casey's turn to ask.

"Compass." Was Marty's simple reply.

"Food?"

"Energy bars we rationed."

"And the occasional sea bass." Chuck added.

"That we cooked with the matches-"

"From the pack." Casey grew concerned at the fact that they were now finishing each other's sentences.

"Why didn't you just go to one of the other islands and get help?" He continued to question.

"Well, the weather started getting rough…" Marty started.

"The tiny ship was tossed." Chuck carried on and looked at Sarah, "I'm the Skipper, by the way." He smiled and waggled his eyebrows at her, resulting in another long kiss.

"You're totally Gilligan." Marty disagreed, "We weren't sure where we ended up but we knew you were east…" She looked up at Trevor and smiled, "…so that was where we headed." Marty finished.

Chuck re-emerged from Sarah, "Besides, if anyone else had rescued us, we didn't know when they'd let us see you again what with their insistence on medical attention and possible debriefings." He smiled at Sarah, getting pulled into another kiss. He was tired and the weight of her entire body still wrapped around his was getting heavy, but he didn't mind and simply squeezed her tighter.

Seeing Chuck distracted, Marty took over the story, "We agreed it was best to come straight to you. We would have gotten here sooner. A fishing boat found us a few miles from the shore and offered us a ride."

Chuck looked up again, "But we figured it was a matter of principle. We had already gone about eighty miles. What's three more?"

"Drop in the bucket really." Marty agreed, nodding.

"Sharks?" Casey wanted everything explained..

"We did see one shark." Chuck answered and Sarah's face turned back to one of concern, "I punched him in the face and told him to tell his other sharks friends there was more where that came from." This earned another smile and kiss from Sarah.

"True story." Marty testified.

"So…you made it to shore and…what? Caught a cab here?" Casey decided this was the most ridiculous story he had ever heard.

They both laughed and Chuck answered for them, "Don't be ridiculous Casey. We didn't have any money to pay for a cab."

"We jogged here."

"I'd call it more of a run."

"That was my jogging pace."

"Really?" Chuck was impressed with his travel companion, "Wow." His thoughts on that revelation were disrupted by another kiss.

"How did you get past the other agents on guard?" This question didn't come from Casey but one of the agents on Sarah's restraint team.

Chuck and Marty finally noticed the rest of the group, "Marty taught me this super neat neck pinch thing." Chuck manipulated his fingers into an awkward looking pose then squeezed the neck of one of the other agents. He immediately dropped to the ground, unconscious, "He'll be fine." He casually explained.

"Oh…" Marty looked as if she had done something wrong, "We were going with the neck pinch? I thought we were killing them."

"No…remember, these were our guys…good guys. Killing them would be bad."

"Hm. Oops." She shrugged and shared a serious look with Chuck for several seconds before they both burst out laughing. No one in the room was sure of whether or not she had just killed at least ten trained CIA agents.

Chuck looked at Sarah, "Good news, bad news." Yet another habit he had picked up from her sister.

"You're alive, that's all the good news I need." She smiled and kissed him again.

"Ah, but it gets better." Marty told her. She broke the kiss and looked down at Chuck.

"Well, three days lost at sea together gave us a lot of time to talk. She explained numbers one through five to me." He smiled widely at Sarah and it only took her several seconds to understand what he was saying.

"Oh…" Her eyes widened in pleasant surprise, "Bad news?"

"We only have two days to practice them before we have to leave our room for the wedding." She smiled down at him as he stumbled his way to their bedroom, lips attached to hers.

Her restraint team attempted to follow but were blocked by Casey, "I don't think your services are required anymore. Why don't you collect your people-"

"What's left of some of them. Sorry about that." Marty interjected.

"And get out." Stephen finished, holding the front door open.

"We can't leave without direct orders from General Beckman." The female agent replied.

"Then I guess you better pull up a chair and relax because, the only way you're getting to that room is by getting past me." Casey threatened. As weird as the thought of what was going on behind that closed door was, he knew Chuck and Sarah had earned the right to have some time alone together.

"That's not necessary." Marty stepped in between Casey and the woman, pointing to the open door. They turned to see General Beckman herself. All the agents, including Casey, stood up straight and saluted with the exception of Marty and Trevor who were back into each others arms.

"At ease." They relaxed. She surveyed the living room, taking note of the agent on the floor, "You're excused. Get him up and move out."

"Yes General." The woman obeyed and, with assistance, picked up the unconscious man and left with the rest of her team. General Beckman stayed behind, eyeing up Marty.

"I'm assuming you're the one I spoke to?"

"I am."

"It's very impressive what you and Agent Bartowski accomplished."

Marty shrugged, "Eh."

"And I'm not authorized to know who you are?"

"Of course you are." She extended her hand for Beckman to shake, "I'm Sam's sister Marty." She smiled sweetly and Beckman simply nodded, looked at her suspiciously, then left.

Casey and Stephen looked to her for an explanation, "I took the phone off one of the guys in charge of securing the perimeter and gave her a call." She held the phone up then put it back in her pocket, "I kept it because I figured he wouldn't need it. What with not having hands anymore." Casey narrowed his eyes at her, still not sure whether she was joking.

Thumping from the other room started in a strange rhythm. Trevor looked at Marty, "He's starting with number three? Bold move."

_Not quite the end yet…maybe one more to go. _


	32. Chapter 32

**Sorry for the delay, had to pack up our stuff and move…moving sucks. **

_Colonel John Casey was an American Hero. He had fought bravely in several wars, being awarded various medals for his actions in each one, gone up against notorious terrorist cells, hell, he had even skinny dipped in piranha infested waters once on a dare. A few weeks ago, he stood up to the best assassins the government had to offer, days ago infiltrated an enemy base grossly out numbered, and just yesterday, he stood between two people he was too stubborn to call friends and a handful of CIA agents just to give them the privacy they deserved to do whatever it was that made it necessary to turn the volume on the television all the way up and caused the occasional picture frame to fall from the living room wall._

_But when Ellie Woodcomb came storming through the apartment late Friday afternoon, headed straight for their bedroom door, Casey stood quickly, fought the urge to salute, and nodded his head at her with a slight smile. She made several threats through the closed door, all involving bodily harm to Chuck, if he made Sarah miss her own rehearsal dinner. Never mind the fact that it was also his rehearsal dinner. Apparently, according to his sister, everything having to do with the wedding belongs solely to the bride, and he should feel fortunate to have been invited at all. He wasn't sure if she was referring to the dinner or the wedding and wasn't going to waste precious time questioning her when he knew he could easily squeeze in one more four-two-five combo before they had to be ready for dinner. Before exiting the home, Ellie quickly turned back to the bathroom, pounded on the door and yelled, "That means you too Marty!"_

_Casey wasn't sure but he thought he heard a muffled, "Yes ma'am," coming from the room._

_Ellie had come back with Devon, Clara, Morgan and Alex the same day Chuck and Marty returned from their 'Semester at Sea', as it would later come to be called. Some where between taking out her share of the agents and calling General Beckman, she still managed to find time to call their group as well as Mary and Allison to give the 'All Clear' message. She chalked it up to her keen ability to multitask and revealed that she also called Moviefone just in case she wanted to catch a showing of the new Thor movie later that day. Not particularly because she was interested in a hammer wielding Norwegian super hero but more due to her girl crush on Natalie Portman. _

_Mary and Allison were the first to arrive back to the apartment. Upon seeing Stephen, it only took about five seconds of eye contact and a forward push from Marty on Stephen's back for them to be into each others arms. With an exhale of relief and soft murmurs of I'm sorry _and _I never stopped loving you_, everything was forgiven and forgotten. As Allison explained to her daughter, when you get to be their age, life is too short to waste time arguing about petty things like abandoning the family to pretend to be in love with Russian arms dealers or allowing everyone you care about to think your dead.

The reunion between Stephen and Ellie, however, did not go as smoothly. She arrived an hour after Mary, saw who her mother's arms were wrapped around, and handed Clara over to Devon. She calmly instructed him to go home for thirty minutes then come back. After shutting the door, she turned to face her father, her calm exterior dissolved and proceeded to yell combinations of profanities at him that the others had no idea she even knew. In fact, there were a few Marty had never heard before and decided to make a mental note of. After exactly thirty minutes of yelling, Devon knocked on the door. She took a deep, calming breath, hugged Stephen, then turned Clara over to meet her grandfather.

Now, the entire group was reunited in the Bartowski home for the rehearsal dinner. It was to be followed promptly by a joint Bachelor-Bachelorette party at Marty's insistence despite Sarah's own insistence that she still hadn't recovered from the Bachelorette party her C.A.T. squad took her out for. Marty's only argument was, "Ain't no party like a Marty Spencer party, 'cause a Marty Spencer party potentially ends in the lose of limbs or jail time served in a Moroccan prison." This was Sarah's counter argument for not having it.

Just before dinner, while appetizers were being served, and everyone was enjoying their time together, there was a knock at the door. Without looking up from thumb wrestling with Morgan, Marty announced, "It's for Sam."

Sarah walked to the door and swung it open to see her father for the first time since she helped him evade arrest, after he pulled the man she secretly loved into a Lichtenstein. It wasn't exactly ideal conditions for introducing the two most important men in her life but, then again, at that point she had no intention of the two ever meeting. She allowed Jack to wrap her up in a hug, still in shock over seeing him again.

"Hey dad." Marty called across the room, with her hand still locked in Morgan's, both now moving their entire bodies in the Thumb War.

"Hi Marty." He replied casually with a smile.

"That's it? That's how you say hello to the daughter you haven't seen in ten years?" Sarah asked, not sure why she received such a warm welcome from their father but Marty didn't.

"I told you he liked you more Daddy's Girl." Marty replied, shooting her hands in the air at the end of her match, having beat Morgan, "Besides, up until the accident-"

"You burned our house down intentionally." Trevor corrected, standing next to Chuck.

"Whatever. Before the fire…" She paused and waited for her husband to interrupt again. When he didn't, she continued, "…he came to our house for dinner every week. We see each other all the time."

Trevor turned to Chuck with an irritated look and reiterated, "All the time."

This caught Jack's attention and he turned to the men who had claimed his daughters hearts. To him, they'd always be, "Putz," he nodded his head to Trevor then turned to Chuck and did the same, "Schnook."

The two men simply forced a smile and simultaneously said, "Jack," with a similar head nod, allowing their smiles to drop once he was no longer looking at them. He crossed the room to Allison, took her hands in his, and smiled at her, "Allie."

She smiled back, "Jack."

Casey, who had spent the evening engaging Allison in conversation, and developed a small crush on the woman, sneered at Jack. That was until Allison pulled one of her hands free and brought it up to Jack's cheek, cradling it lovingly. Just as he leaned into her touch, she pulled the hand back and slapped him across the face, causing the entire room to flinch and Casey to grunt in satisfaction.

"Mom!" Sarah exclaimed, "What was that for?"

"He knows." Allison replied without any anger.

"I do." Jack rubbed his face as Trevor and Chuck shared a smile at their father-in-law's expense, not caring what he did to deserve it, but hoping it was bad enough to earn him another.

"Well, alright…Who's ready for dinner?" Ellie asked, trying to change the subject from a potentially awkward moment.

The guests surrounded the table, pairing off and choosing seats. Jack and Casey each pulled a chair out for Allison at the same time. The chairs were side by side and, before she could chose between the two, Chuck and Marty squeezed through, claiming them for themselves. Marty pinched her father's cheek with a wide grin in thanks while Chuck smiled at Casey and patted him on the shoulder. Sarah and Trevor took the seats meant for Jack and Casey, leaving the men and Allison to scatter around the table, all separated from each other.

The partygoers watched as Chuck and Marty piled just the right amount of food onto each other's plates, remnants of being stuck together for three days at sea still evident. Chuck reminded Marty that the twice baked potatoes had chives in them and he knew how much she hated chives while she reached across him and picked the bits of onion from Sarah's salad pointing out that Chuck didn't like onion breath. They then proceeded to retell the story of their adventure to those who hadn't heard it yet, still finishing each other's sentences along the way.

When the dinner was over, Stephen and Mary took Clara back to the Woodcomb home so Ellie and Devon could enjoy whatever festivities Marty had planned. From the little bit that Mary had learned about Sarah's sister, she was more than happy to not be involved in the event. At Marty's insistence, Jack and Allison were also sent away because, "We're not twelve. We don't need parents here to chaperone." Followed shortly by, "Daddy, can I have twenty dollars for gas?" Casey offered to give Allison a ride home, resulting in a lewd comment about sleeping arrangements from Chuck, which Marty laughed at, until Sarah reminded her it was their mother he was talking about.

No one remembers how they ended up in Madame Tussauds Wax Museum…why the Captain Kirk figure was wearing Ellie's dress while she donned his signature red uniform…they weren't sure who the other people were that surrounded them, all half naked…or why Wil Wheaton was tied to the captain's chair wearing nothing but a pair of Starfleet Academy boxer shorts…none of them had any idea how Leonard Nimoy ended up in their group, wearing lipstick and handcuffed to Chuck. No one could recall much after the first bar they went to and, judging from the scene they woke up to, they were all pretty happy to keep it that way. After using a picture of Mr. Wheaton doing something inappropriate to the Jean-Luc Picard figure, in order to avoid the charges he was threatening to file, it was agreed that all pictures would be deleted from cell phones and the night would never be spoken of again.

When the group separated, the men headed for the Bartowski home while the women were off to whatever surprise Marty had in store for them. They wouldn't see each other again until the wedding at nine o'clock that evening. When Sarah asked Marty why it was so late, she explained that she could do many things but controlling the sunset was not one of them.

Chuck grabbed Sarah's wrist and pulled her back to him as she was turning to leave. The force from the pull smashed her body to his and he melted his lips into hers for a very passionate kiss. He pulled away and smiled down at her as she appeared to be breathless, still staring at his lips, "I'll see you tonight." He pushed her hair back behind her ear, "I'll be easy to recognize because I'll be the luckiest guy in the room."

"Yeah, yeah…" Marty interrupted their moment, pulling Sarah away, "…and I'll be the guy in the codpiece." Chuck was too confused by her statement to put up much of a fight and watched as his bride to be was pulled off to a waiting ambulance, unsure of what point in the evening and what circumstances had led them to acquire it but glad Marty was not in charge of planning his day. The sirens and lights were turned on and the vehicle disappeared down the street.

At exactly nine o'clock, Sarah was sitting in a limousine with Marty, parked outside of the entrance to their apartment complex. They were back slightly so Sarah couldn't see into the courtyard.

"What are we doing here?" She asked.

"Well, Chuck told me he wanted a big family wedding but you wanted to elope so, we decided to compromise."

"And this is the compromise? Our apartment? Are we getting married in our living room?"

Marty smiled at her sister, "Well, you told me beaches and churches were out. I worked with what I had. It was either here or the Buy More parking lot."

Jack appeared at the door and reached his hand in to help his daughters out, "Ready ladies?"

Marty exited first then stood at the archway. She looked back at Sarah and smiled one more time, "I'm happy for you Sam. You found a good one." Sarah waited for the inevitable smart ass comment to follow but was surprised to see her sister turn and walk into the courtyard, her bouquet in hand.

Just before Sarah rounded the corner with her father, she could hear a familiar song playing…"Feeling Good". It was tuned down considerably. Instead of it having a powerful swing feel, it was just a soft, simple melody being played on a piano. Sarah remembered the night Chuck told her it was going to be her song but she disagreed and said it should be their song. She smiled and thought about how appropriate it was for today, "It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me…and I'm feeling good." She knew this song was her cue and stepped into the courtyard entrance. It only took a second for the sight before her to register, causing a gasp to escape her lips. After working for the CIA for ten years, she was able to take in the entire scene, observing all of her surroundings while her main focus remained on Chuck, standing in front of the fountain in a simple black suit and tie, a loving smile plastered across his face. The officiant was behind him, Morgan was to his left, and Marty was on his other side, waiting for her, smiling brightly. The entire courtyard was illuminated with candles and decorated in white and red rose petals scattered everywhere, more bouquets were used to decorate the rest of the area. Even the fountain had candles and petals floating in it. In her peripheral vision, as she walked, she noticed chairs on either side of the aisle filled with Mary, Stephen, Ellie, Devon holding Clara, Alex, Trevor, Allison, Casey, General Beckman, Carina, and Zondra. A small family wedding…compromise.

When she finally made it to the end of the aisle, Jack kissed her lightly on the cheek then turned back to sit to the right of Allison. Casey occupied the chair to her left and possessively had his arm stretched across the back of her chair, leaning toward her slightly. Sarah handed her flowers to Marty then placed her hands in Chuck's, neither one able to stop smiling and Sarah was already misting up.

"Are we ready to begin?" The officiant asked.

"Since the day we met, I've been ready for this moment." Chuck stated, still smiling down at Sarah.

"Me too." She agreed, never looking away from him.

"I'm good." Marty added.

The next thing that happened was very quick. The officiant dropped the book he was holding to reveal the handgun he had hidden in it then pointed it at Chuck's head. Before he could fire a shot, a bullet ripped through his own skull, right between his eyes. He dropped to the ground, dead. Everyone turned to see where the shot had come from and were surprised to see the source.


	33. Chapter 33

_**So…this is it. Thanks to everyone for the reviews. Hope you've enjoyed the story and thanks for sticking with it.**_

"Mom…was _not_ an analyst." Marty declared, as most of the other wedding guests were rendered speechless while they stared at Allison, who was standing with her arm still extended, holding out the recently fired gun. She slowly lowered the weapon.

"You asked why she called me first after discovering what was happening in the day care." Mary addressed her son, "It was because we were partners before we both took desk jobs."

Sarah's jaw was still on the floor before she managed to find words, "Why did you tell us you were an analyst?"

"I'm proud I served my country but, I'm not proud of some of the things I had to do to serve it. I didn't want you girls looking into my record." Allison replied.

"You're ashamed because you didn't want us to know you killed people?" Sarah asked and her mother simply nodded.

"Who cares?" It was Chuck who spoke for the group and Allison looked up at him, "Literally half the people here have killed someone." The people he was referring to all nodded in agreement, "There was a brief period of time where I even thought I did. I mean…Marty's probably killed someone for having one too many items in the express lane at the grocery store."

"Death is getting off easy for that." She corrected.

"On top of that, anyone here who hasn't killed someone, loves one of those who has." The remaining guests nodded, "And they're OK with it." They continued to nod, "We're all disturbingly OK with it. Right everyone?" Again, all the guests nodded.

"I think it's a huge turn on." Casey added.

"It doesn't matter to us mom. We still love you and we'll always be proud of you for the sacrifices you made for our country…and for us." Sarah stated, smiling at the woman. With this last bit of encouragement, Allison smiled and sat back down, putting her gun back into her handbag.

"So…where were we?" Chuck clapped his hands together and turned, looking down at the dead man, "Right. That's going to be a problem."

"There's no one to marry us." Sarah realized. The weight of the obstacle forced her down to sit on the edge of the fountain, defeated.

"I wouldn't say no one." Marty explained, "Morgan and I prepared for this…Well, not this exactly, but we did have a back up plan in case something happened to the officiant…I guess dead qualifies as something." She looked down at the body then back up to Allison, "Nice shot momma." Again, the woman smiled.

Sarah looked up with hope in her eyes until Morgan stepped forward, chest puffed up, and looked overly proud. It only took her another second to realize why and her hopeful expression was replaced with panic, "No! Absolutely not! We are not being married by Morgan Grimes!" Sarah said adamantly.

Morgan cleared his throat and straightened his tie, trying to fight back the tears of rejection as Chuck came to his defense, "Sarah, it's this or nothing."

"Glad I'm the best alternative to nothing buddy."

"The courthouse won't be open until Monday and we leave for our honeymoon tomorrow. This is it." He looked at her with pleading eyes and she continued to shake her head.

"Perhaps I can be of some assistance." They heard the voice before they saw the source of it. A second later, Leonard Nimoy stepped from the shadows of the entrance, "I hope you don't mind, Marty invited me this morning. Sorry I'm late."

"Ain't no thang Hickory Dickory Spock." Marty answered for the group, waving her hand at him in dismissal but instead of a regular wave she positioned her fingers in the 'Live Long a Prosper' formation.

"How can you help us Mr. Nimoy?" Chuck asked, confused.

"Well, I can't tell you how many people have wanted to get married at Star Trek conventions by Captain James T. Kirk. Just because he was a captain on TV, it didn't give that jackass Shatner any right to officiate marriages in real life, you know. I got tired of watching him perform shame marriage after shame marriage so, I decided to do something about it. I got ordained and, the very next time someone approached him with the request, I told them, while he didn't have the proper credentials to perform a legal union, I did." He smiled.

Chuck turned to Sarah with a encouraging smile, "Does this work for you?"

She glanced over his shoulder to a still hurt Morgan, who was looking away and trying to hold his head high with dignity, "Considering the alternative?" Morgan whimpered, "Yes." Chuck turned back to Leonard and gave a nod in confirmation.

"Wait." Marty exclaimed, "Let's move this body out of the way first. It doesn't bother me but it might ruin the overall mood."

Casey stood quickly, "I'll do it!" He turned back to Allison, "It would be my pleasure to clean up such an exquisite kill."

"Since when did Casey start using words like exquisite?" Chuck asked Sarah. She merely shrugged in response

"Since he put himself in the running to be our step daddy." Marty answered as the three of them thought about the possibility, then cringed and shook to free themselves from the mental image. As Casey dragged the body away, Marty observed the blood on the ground, "It's a good thing we went with the red theme. It all just blends together." She looked at Leonard, "Questions about any of this?"

"After what I woke up to this morning, nothing about this group surprises me."

Once Casey returned to his seat, the wedding commenced. Leonard Nimoy was not half bad as an ordained minister. Well, not half bad as an ordained minister who performed weddings at conventions for people dressed as Klingons and Romulans, "Love, the final frontier…" Sarah gave Chuck a panicked look and fought to remind herself that being married to him and Morgan not performing the ceremony were the only things that mattered. Leonard chuckled slightly, "Just kidding…a little intergalactic humor." She exhaled the breath she didn't know she was holding and smiled as he continued more seriously, "There is nothing greater, nothing stronger, in this universe, than love. It's what brings two people together against all odds and obstacles. It's what builds empires or destroys them. It's what inspires masterpieces of art, music, and architecture the world over. And it's what I knew these two shared when I met them backstage at the 'Glee Live!' concert last night."

Devon leaned toward Ellie and whispered, "We were backstage at a Glee concert?" Ellie simply shrugged in response but knew she recognized some of the half naked people they woke up with this morning from somewhere.

"Did you plan on reciting your own vows?" He asked Chuck and Sarah.

Chuck looked at Leonard, "I hadn't thought about it…" He turned his gaze back to Sarah and smiled, "But I think I could wing it."

"By all means." Leonard encouraged him to begin.

"Sarah Walker, through the past four years, we've experienced ups and downs, twists and turns, and everything in between but none of it mattered because we faced it all together. I didn't ask for what happened to me but it brought you into my life at a point where I felt so completely…ordinary. I was stuck, going no where, bored out of my mind but then you walked into the Buy More and everything changed. You made me feel special, for the first time in my life, like I could do anything…be anything…be extraordinary. Without knowing the limitations of the intersect, you always had faith and trusted me…even from the beginning, when I wanted to diffuse a bomb with porn." They laughed, "Meeting you was the best thing that's ever happened to me and I plan on spending every day, for the rest of my life proving that to you. I vow to never take one moment with you for granted. I vow to protect you, despite the fact that you could probably kill me with a Kleenex. And I vow that not one second will pass in our life together that you don't feel completely loved by me." They both smiled and he lovingly placed his hand on her cheek as she leaned forward and kissed him, forgetting the fact that they were being watched.

"It's not quite time for that yet…unless you want to skip to the end." Leonard reminded her as the guests laughed quietly.

Sarah smiled and shook her head, then gazed up at Chuck, "I certainly didn't make things easy for you, did I?" The two laughed slightly at the truth in her opening line, "I don't know why I fought so hard to ignore what I felt for you, when I had never been more certain of anything in my life. You changed me too, you know. My work was the center of my world, I ignored my emotions, lived out of a suitcase and moved from job to job, never developing a true attachment to anyone or anything. For the first time since I joined the CIA, you made me think about a future that revolved around another person…as cheesy as it sounds, you became my sun. You bring me light and warmth and, if anything were to ever happen to you, I'd go spinning off my axis…lost."

"Nice analogy." Leonard always appreciated any talk having to do with space.

Sarah continued, "I vow to live a long and happy life with you, not letting anything get in the way of that. I vow to keep my suitcase empty unless yours is filled and sitting right next to it. And I vow to never let you forget how important you are to me…how much your love means to me because, without you…there is no sun." The shared a bright smile with one another, obviously fighting the urge to kiss again.

"Who has the rings?" Leonard asked. Chuck looked to Morgan who had tears in his eyes until he realized he was supposed to have Sarah's ring. He began patting his suit pockets in search of it. Sarah turned back and looked at Marty who was staring up at nothing in particular and swaying to none existent music.

"Marty." She attempted to get her sister's attention.

"Hm?"

"The ring?" Marty looked as if she didn't know what Sarah was talking about for a moment then dug in the top of her dress, seemingly under one of her breasts.

"I had to lock it up in the vault." She pulled it out, wiped it down the side of her dress, to clean off God knows what, then handed it to her sister. Sarah turned to Chuck, who was still staring at Morgan, waiting for him to find the other ring.

"Maybe it's in your vault." Marty suggested resulting in Morgan unbuttoning his shirt and digging his hand around under his t-shirt.

"Alright, nobody panic but…" He looked down to the ground, spinning in circles frantically, "…I think I might have dropped it." Sarah pushed Chuck out of the way and dropped to the ground on her hands in knees, trying to aid in the search. For the next five minutes, every wedding guest was crawling on the ground, trying to find Sarah's wedding band. The occasional false alarm was sounded for a quarter or piece of wire but then Morgan finally remembered what happened to it, "I put it in Chuck's pocket!"

Everyone's head shot up at the declaration and looked at Chuck expectantly. He stood as Morgan and Sarah rushed over to him, each picking a pants pocket and digging around before he had the chance to look himself. Chuck looked at Sarah, "You feel free to keep doing what you're doing…take your time." He grabbed Morgan's wrist and pulled his hand out of the other pocket, "You, on the other hand, are not welcome anywhere in this general area." He gestured toward his crotch as Sarah moved to the other pocket and began feeling around while Chuck's face took on a pleased, goofy grin.

"Found it!" She declared and pulled the ring out, holding it up to him.

"I must admit," Leonard stated, "This is one of the more interesting weddings I've ever officiated."

"One of the most?" Marty asked, feeling that a bullet through the head of the original officiant should have put them in the top spot.

"You'd be surprised the things you see in thirty-nine years of Star Trek conventions."

The pair took turns repeating after Leonard as they placed rings on one another's fingers, Chuck going first, "With this ring, I pledge my love and my life to you." He slid the ring on her finger, eliciting a wide smile and tears from Sarah, "Wear it as a symbol of the promise I make to you today."

Sarah repeated the process, "With this ring, I pledge my love and my life to you. Wear it as a symbol of the promise I make to you today."

Leonard smiled at Chuck and Sarah as they never looked away from one another, "By the power vested in me by the Vulcan Fellowship of the First Intergalactic Church…" Sarah looked panicked again and Leonard noticed, "Don't worry, it's legitimate." He winked at her, "I pronounce you husband and wife, you may now-"

Before he could finish, twenty figures dressed in black stormed into the courtyard, surrounding the guests, several dropping down from the rooftops, guns aimed at Chuck. Sarah looked up and saw that there were at least ten more, still on the rooftops, with weapons pointed down at him. Half the wedding guests, who had admittedly killed someone stood quickly, their own weapons raised to defend him. Sarah stepped protectively in front of him, grabbing her bouquet from Marty and pulling her own gun from inside the flowers, aimed at the intruders.

Marty remained calm and allowed the gears in her head to spin, "You know…I'm thinking no one ever called Alonzo to cancel that hit out on you."

"Is that what that is?" Chuck turned and looked at her to see her swords were drawn, "Where do you keep pulling those from?"

"I have an exceptionally deep uterus." She explained causing Chuck, and everyone else for that matter, to contort their faces in revulsion.

"You're disgusting."

"They fold up." Stephen explained impressed with his design of a sword that was capable of folding up but remaining strong and sturdy when drawn, "She usually has a small holster under her shirt for them."

"Just take all the magic away. You know where Harry Houdini would be if he gave away all his secrets?"

"Not dead?" Chuck answered then backpedaled, "Well, obviously dead by now but he probably would have lived a lot longer…that is a very tight dress, by the way, where are the holsters?"

"I had to find a special spot for them today."

"Good enough. Never feel the need to be more specific." Chuck requested.

"I'm curious." Morgan admitted.

"Uterus." Marty replied simply.

"In her flowers." Stephen corrected.

"Come on!" Marty stomped her foot, frustrated with Chuck's father for taking the secret out of her secret weapons.

"I think it would be more beneficial to direct our energies on the men with the automatic weapons." It was Leonard who pulled them from their banter.

"We just want Bartowski." One of the figures dressed in black declared.

"On who's authority?" General Beckman asked, moving in front of Chuck and Sarah. The few agents who recognized her dropped their weapons, stood up straight, and saluted.

"On the authority of Benjamin Franklin." A female stated, not impressed with the presence of the General.

Beckman looked confused so Marty leaned toward her, mumbling an explanation, "It's all about the Benjamin's baby."

She grew angry and stepped forward, threateningly, "I suggest, any of you under my command leave now before I have your jobs and your asses for insubordination!"

Several of the figures looked around at one another, lowered their weapons, then left the scene, leaving twenty four to divide between those who were capable.

"I think…" Marty slowly moved forward in front of Sarah, "We need to set up some ground rules here."

"For what? You're out numbered." The woman spoke for the group again.

"Then you obviously don't know who you're dealing with." The look in her eyes was all it took for the figures to glance around at one another again, unsure.

"I'm good to take at least two of them."

"Very logical analysis Mr. Spock. I think you speak for all of us." Marty replied to Leonard as the people posing the threat were finally made aware of the fact that Leonard Nimoy was in their presence and had just threatened them.

The woman spoke again, not as certain of their numbers, "What are your conditions?"

"Anyone without a gun gets to clear out of here."

The agents looked around at one another and nodded in agreement, "Deal." Without hesitation, Ellie, Devon holding Clara, and Alex stood to rush back to the Woodcomb home. When Alex realized Morgan wasn't right behind her, she turned to see him standing tall next to his best friend. She allowed pride for her fiance to swell inside of her just before she ran over to him, grabbed his tie, and pulled him to safety with her.

"I'm not leaving you girls." Jack stood straighter and earned a smile from Allison that caused Casey to roll his eyes.

"I'm not leaving either." Stephen grasped Mary's free hand then turned to his wife to share a reassuring, loving smile.

"Anything else?" The woman asked.

"The bride and groom get to take cover."

"Excuse me? Absolutely not Marty." Sarah disagreed.

"I'm with her. Especially considering he's the one we're after."

"Yes, and you can have him if any of you are left when this is all done." Marty reasoned.

"Takes two of their guns out of the equation." Another agent observed.

"Well, one really. I'm not a fan of guns." Chuck explained then pulled a tranquilizer gun from the holster under his suit jacket, "Well, not guns of the bullet variety." He raised the weapon and pointed it at the group they were facing.

"Chuck, go take cover." Sarah called to him over her shoulder.

"Only if you do."

"You're both so ridiculous." Marty turned to them frustrated, dropping her arms to her sides, "Why is everyone in this group so damn self sacrificing? Leonard, if I were to say to you, 'Get out of the crossfire. I don't want you to die', what would you say?"

"I would thank you for your concern, set my phaser to kill, and stay in the fight."

"What is wrong with you people?" Marty asked in disbelief.

"We're family." Chuck explained moving in front of Sarah so his body was shielding her but her gun was still sticking out under his raised arm, her head peaking out from behind his shoulder. He pulled her free arm up, kissed her hand, then wrapped the arm around his waist, his own arm over top of it, "As dysfunctional as a family can get but family nonetheless. We stand by each other, we support each other, and when one of us faces the threat of a hired hit squad, we all do." The guests all looked around at each other and smiled, "Because, that's what families do. Well, not normal families. I mean, normal families face things like bill collectors and school bullies…But we take care of each other."

"So, when you say 'take care of each other', you mean kill anyone that poses a threat to our family without hesitation?" Marty asked making the agents nervous.

"That's exactly what I mean…sis." He smiled at her and, as if that were the magic word everyone was waiting for, the family opened fire, taking the intruders by surprise. Trevor and Carina aimed for the agents on the roof as if it were a job they had already been assigned. Everyone else fired two well placed head shots in their assigned agents, Chuck tranquilizing his and Marty cutting quickly through one nearby agent, then another, and sending her sword flying across the courtyard at a third. Even Jack and Stephen joined in at the sound of the magic word. Jack grabbed the gun of the man closest to him and pushed it up as Stephen followed through by picking up a chair and smashing it across the man's back, knocking him out. The final agent, the female spokesperson, was the only on who remained, standing next to Leonard. He smiled and put his hand on her neck just before she collapsed to the ground.

Marty looked around at the dead and tranquilized bodies, "Good thing we planned for a large scale attack."

"It really was a good idea to expect a worst case scenario." Chuck agreed.

"And props still go to mom for taking care of the unexpected threat." Marty glanced at Allison who was smiling proudly.

Leonard cleared his throat, "As I was saying…you may now kiss the bride…And may you live long and prosper."

"Leonard." Marty looked at him disapprovingly.

"Sorry. I couldn't resist."

Chuck turned to Sarah, who still had her arm wrapped around him. She smiled up at him, "Hello Mr. Bartowski."Her analogy to the sun was proven correct when Chuck began glowing, "Hello Mrs. Bartowski." He grabbed her waist and pulled her closer with one hand while the other dropped the tranq gun and came up to rest on her neck, his thumb rubbing her cheek. She grabbed the lapels of his jacket with both hands and pulled him down to crash his lips into hers. The guests smiled and applauded enthusiastically until Marty remembered they were on a tight schedule.

"Ok. We need to clean this mess up because we have reception guests showing up in about twenty minutes."

"I'm on it." General Beckman reported, already on her cell phone.

"Reception guests?" Sarah asked, taking a short break from Chuck. He pulled her lips back to his and anything Marty said was ignored.

"It's called compromise Sam. You got your small wedding, Chuck gets a big, family reception…And someone call Alonzo."

"It's ringing." Trevor replied, cell phone to his ear.

The first reception guest arrived seconds after the final body was dragged from the courtyard and more guests followed shortly after. Within half an hour, the reception was in full swing, everyone who was invited present, and only several people asked about the blood stains on the ground. Excuses were made by those who attended the wedding from spilled punch, to melted Jello shots, to attempts at painting the ground to match the theme but running out of paint. Marty admitted to Chuck's cousin that it was, in fact, blood from a shoot out that had occurred during the wedding but Chuck and Sarah laughing hysterically led the cousin to believe she was joking.

The evening also saw the blending of several worlds. Spies, Buy More employees, and Bartowski family members bonded as the hours passed. Leonard Nimoy was last seen in the early stages of a drinking contest with Jeff, the cake was cut, and the bride and groom shared their first dance. Family and friends circled around them and watched a public moment that Sarah and Chuck still managed to make private by whispering to one another, smiling, and sharing brief, soft kisses.

Later, Sarah watched as Trevor pulled Marty aside. He held both of her hands in his and rested them over his heart. The words were whispered as he looked down at her lovingly then slid her wedding band back onto her finger where it belonged. Marty gazed up at him, put her hand on his cheek, and slowly guided him down to her. Sarah smiled at the sight of one of the few genuinely serious moments she had observed her sister in. It was, of course, ruined when Marty licked the side of his face, from jaw to temple, then squeezed his butt just before walking away toward Sarah.

"Having fun?"

"I am, thank you. This was perfect."

"Turns out, I am surprisingly good at planning weddings."

"You're surprisingly good at anything you do." Sarah looked down at her feet, "I was thinking…it's been really great having you around. What would you say to staying for a while after the wedding? I mean…you can kill people anywhere."

"I have killed people anywhere." Marty corrected then smiled at her sister, "We'll see." The last words she spoke to Sarah for the night were, "I'm going to do that guy the biggest solid ever." Sarah followed her gaze as it landed on Lester. She wasn't sure what she was talking about until she watched Marty walk up to Carina, point Lester out and gesture wildly to her crotch. Carina's eyes widened in shock just before she smirked and a devilish gleam appeared in her eyes. She put her drink down and walked over to him then began flirting shamefully with the small man who was still convinced the beautiful woman had the wrong guy.

Sarah felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her from behind. She smiled and leaned back into Chuck's embrace.

"Ready to head out?"

She turned around with his arms still wrapped around her, "Yes, please."

"Should we sneak away or let them do the big send off?"

"Sneak away. For all we know, Marty decided bubbles or rose petals weren't cute enough and she has a box of kittens hidden somewhere to throw at us."

"Good thinking. Shall we Mrs. Bartowski?" He stepped back and offered her his arm.

"We shall Mr. Bartowski." Sarah linked her arm with his and the pair quietly exited the party. Marty watched them leave with a smile on her face realizing she'd have to find something else to do with the five hundred parakeets she had waiting in the wings…then laughed at the unintended mental pun and went in search of her husband to share it with him.

A week later, Chuck and Sarah returned from their honeymoon, Chuck wearing the small emergency pack that he had taken to carrying with him everywhere because, "You never know when you might find yourself in the middle of an ocean." The pair was relaxed and tan, wearing smiles and holding hands as they slowly walked through the courtyard to their apartment. A line of movers began carrying boxes out of one of the apartments.

"Creepy Kyle's moving out?" Chuck asked, surprised.

"Good. I was getting tired of having to constantly replace the bottle of perfume he kept taking whenever he came over."

Another line of movers began coming in carrying boxes back into the apartment, "Wow. That was a quick turn around. I wonder who's moving in." Chuck's question was answered when he saw Mike and Ike carrying boxes in. He pushed Sarah behind him to protect her, "No! The hit on me was called off!"

"Relax." Mike soothed, "We're not here to kill you."

"We're here to help." Ike finished the statement.

"Help?" Chuck furrowed his brow in confusion as they saw Aubrey and Mia next, carrying a couch. Once they reached Sarah and Chuck, they saw McGruff was laying on it, bandaged but recovering. He whined and wagged his tail several times to acknowledge the couple before the women continued into the apartment. Their eyes were then drawn to Casey's front door as it opened and Allison walked out. She turned back to Casey who gave her a loving smile before they shared a kiss that caused Sarah to look away and blush and, when they separated, Casey's gaze caught the newly returned couple. He let his smile drop as Allison turned and saw her daughter, smiled shyly, then exited the complex with a promise to see them at Family Friday.

"Family Friday?" Chuck inquired but before it could be explained, they heard a familiar voice.

"Hey! You're back. How was the honeymoon…better question, how were numbers six through ten?" The couple turned to see Marty.

"What are you doing here?" Sarah asked.

"Well, I don't know if you heard, but we needed a place to stay. Some psycho burned our house down."

"Mommy! Mommy!" Sarah's eyes widened as two small children ran up to her sister and wrapped their arms around her legs.

"Mommy?" First Casey was spending the night with their mother, then she was moving in, now her baby sister is a mother? They were only gone a week.

"Of course. Why else do you think dad would want to visit us every week?" Sarah was speechless and continued to just stare at her sister until Marty started laughing, "I'm just kidding. I found them out on the sidewalk." She handed each child twenty dollars and sent them running back out the way they came in.

"So, you're really moving in? Or is all this a joke too?" Sarah hated the fact that her sister never took anything seriously.

"We're really moving in. A wise woman told me you can kill people anywhere but…I'm thinking of getting out of the business. Maybe relax for a while."

"Well good. We'll need someone to stay home with the baby when it comes." Sarah placed her hand on her lower abdomen, took Chuck's hand, and walked away from her sister who was now the one with a shocked expression on her face, "Very funny…you're joking…right…Sam?"

Apparently, Marty wasn't the only one in the family who could make a joke…or was she?

THE END…?


End file.
